Spain set to block Sam Altman’s crypto project Worldcoin

The news: According to an email seen by the Financial Times, Spain’s data protection regulator is demanding that Worldcoin immediately stops collecting personal information in the country and to stop using data that has already been collected.

The numbers: The company currently has 4 million registered users, and has raised roughly USD250 million ($381 million) from investors including VC firms a16z Crypto and Bain Capital Crypto.

The context: Founder and CEO of AI giant, OpenAI, Sam Altman, co-founded the Worldcoin venture in 2019. The firm offers tokens of its own cryptocurrency to users in return for their consent to have their eyeballs scanned by an orb. Worldcoin seeks to use the scans as a form of identification as it works to create a mechanism that effectively distinguishes between humans and machines as AI continues to advance.

The Spanish data regulator, the AEPD, has given Worldcoin 72 hours to comply with the order, after flagging concerns about minors using the platform during 2023. The start-up chose to avoid launching the crypto tokens in the US last year due to regulators’ crackdown on the sector, and remains unavailable in China and India. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office has expressed its plans to investigate Worldcoin’s offering.