Written by: MORBID-19
Compiled by: TechFlow
Worldcoin is a project that issues Worldcoin (WLD) tokens to individuals who prove they are human through iris scans. Its purpose is to ensure a basic income for humans in a future where AI may replace jobs, created by Sam Altman of OpenAI, and has become well-known.
In Korea, around 90,000 people have downloaded the World App, with about 30,000 completing iris authentication. However, the project faces legal challenges in Korea, fined over 11 billion won (about $800,000) for violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
According to Yonhap News:
The investigation found that the Worldcoin Foundation and TFH, which was entrusted with processing personal information, collected personal information including iris data without legal permission, and did not comply with the Personal Information Protection Act when transferring this data overseas.
It should be noted that the Worldcoin Foundation did not promptly inform users in Korea of the purpose of collecting and using iris information, and the retention and usage period.
Iris codes are sensitive information that can identify individuals and cannot be changed, so separate consent and security measures should have been required, but these requirements were not met.
The investigation also confirmed that the Worldcoin Foundation and TFH transferred personal information collected in Korea to foreign countries, including Germany, without notifying users.
In addition, the Worldcoin Foundation did not establish a method for users to request deletion or suspension of iris code processing, and TFH's age verification for children under 14 during the World App registration process was found to be insufficient.
This news is particularly important because Korea accounts for a large portion of WLD trading volume. As of October 6, Korean exchanges accounted for about 16% of total WLD trading volume, with most of the trading volume occurring on Bithumb, making it the second largest exchange by volume after Binance.
Percentage of WLD trading volume on Korean exchanges
In July, @DefiSquared on Twitter harshly criticized Worldcoin, pointing out the abnormally high valuation of WLD, signs of price manipulation by the project team, and a token economic model that is extremely favorable to insiders. He warned that retail investors in Korea may become "unfortunate victims," and noted that while only 2.7% of the total WLD supply is in circulation, the fully diluted value (FDV) has reached $30 billion, with about 25% of the circulating supply held on Bithumb.
[...] Many of them may not even be able to read enough English to understand the situation. As of the time of writing, nearly 25% of all circulating WLD is held on Bithumb, and token emissions that are about to be unlocked continue to increase:
This is not a shitcoin chart
Google Trends also shows that the Korean keyword "Worldcoin" (월드코인) is closely correlated with the price movement of WLD, indicating that Koreans were more likely to purchase WLD during its peak. WLD rose to around $12 and has since experienced a nearly 90% decline.
Even more regrettably, not only tech-savvy young people, but also the elderly have been attracted to Worldcoin, going to Orb locations for iris recognition and to obtain WLD tokens. While it is unclear whether these elderly people have purchased WLD tokens, if they have, they may have suffered significant losses.
Orbs are installed in multiple locations in Seoul, especially in food and beverage establishments. The operators of these Orbs receive WLD as a reward for each new iris authentication. This has led to a marketing strategy where the venues encourage visiting customers to undergo iris authentication to receive "free tokens".
This marketing approach has raised concerns about collecting iris information from uninformed elderly people. In March, when Worldcoin was at its peak in popularity, the Korea Personal Information Protection Commission began an investigation due to a large number of complaints.
Map of Worldcoin Orb locations in Seoul
While it is theoretically impossible to reconstruct personal biometric information from the iris codes generated by Orb scans, most people cannot fully understand Worldcoin's technology. The act of scanning irises may be perceived as intrusive, which could be one of the reasons for the controversy.
Search volume for Worldcoin (35.1%) exceeds the sum of all other keywords
I noticed an interesting phenomenon, which is the very high demand for Worldcoin-related content on YouTube. In the search statistics of my channel, the keyword "Worldcoin" accounts for about 35% of the search volume, more than double the second-ranked keyword.
A quick search for Worldcoin on YouTube reveals many videos predicting price increases and potential positive developments. This is not surprising, as YouTube is the second largest platform for Koreans to access information, after Naver.
Search platform rankings in Korea: Naver, YouTube, Google, Instagram, Namuwiki/Wikipedia, Kakaotalk, Daum, ChatGPT, Facebook, X
Koreans primarily rely on Naver for information searches, followed by YouTube, rather than Google. Although English-speaking users mainly use Google, Korea has unique communities like "Naver Cafes" that generate a lot of information that can only be found on Naver.
As a result, many people looking to invest in cryptocurrencies often encounter misleading information, or in severe cases, become victims of Ponzi schemes. The isolated environment of the Korean language and Naver not only poses challenges for projects wanting to enter the Korean market, but also makes it difficult for Koreans to discern accurate information.
