Germany Asks Worldcoin to Delete User Iris Scans

The Office of Data Protection of the State of Bavaria (BayLDA), a privacy supervisory authority in Germany, has ordered Worldcoin (WLD) to delete user biometric data. The company has appealed this decision.

This legal challenge targets the company's operations center in the European Union and could seriously impede their development in the region.

BayLDA Confronts Worldcoin

World (formerly Worldcoin) is a digital identity project that collects iris scans and other biometric data from millions of users. Today, BayLDA has published a press release summarizing the ongoing investigation into World, and they are not satisfied with the company's compliance:

"The company will have to provide a data deletion process in compliance with GDPR regulations within one month of the decision taking effect. Worldcoin will have to provide clear consent... in the future. Furthermore, the deletion of certain previously collected data records without sufficient legal basis has been ordered,"

the statement said.

World immediately appealed BayLDA's decision and posted a response on its official blog. Essentially, the company argues that the investigation results "primarily relate to outdated activities and technologies that were replaced in 2024." In other words, the company claims it has significantly improved its technology over the past year to the point where the regulator's concerns are no longer valid.

The past few months have been a difficult period for the price performance of WLD. The company rebranded from "Worldcoin" in mid-October, but the general market rally in November came late and quickly faded. The WLD token surged 50% in a week after the U.S. election, but the rapid gains quickly stalled. However, the token's future prospects remain uncertain.

German financial authorities have taken a tougher approach to cryptocurrencies in recent months. In July, the government sold off its entire Bitcoin reserve, and regulators have carried out a major crackdown on exchanges. In other words, BayLDA has acknowledged that World is appealing its decision and is unlikely to accept the challenge easily.

However, this investigation began in early 2023 and the results were only published today. Regardless of any legal challenges between World and BayLDA, the most likely outcome at this point is difficult to predict.

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