Sam Altman Wants to Scan Your Eyeball in Exchange for Cryptocurrency
Among the many parts of its plan, Worldcoin has designed an orb-shaped device that would scan a person’s iris to construct a unique personal identifier.
The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital arm of Coinbase Global Inc.,LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Day One Ventures. It recently raised about $25 million from investors.
The intention was to use cryptocurrency to spread money around equitably, inspired by the trendy economic theory known as universal basic income.
The head of the venture is Alexander Blania, 27, a former student of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology and the Max Planck Society. He co-founded Worldcoin with Altman and Max Novendstern, who previously worked at Ray Dalio’s investment firm Bridgewater Associates LP and at money-transfer startup Wave.
With Worldcoin, the startup promises “a new global digital currency that will launch by giving a share to every single person on earth,” according to an online job description. The company aims to help economies transition to cryptocurrencies “through a novel approach: a dedicated hardware device ensuring both humanness and uniqueness of everybody signing up, while maintaining their privacy and the overall transparency of a permissionless blockchain.”
See the full story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-29/sam-altman-s-worldcoin-will-give-free-crypto-for-eyeball-scans
