Digital identity project Worldcoin claimed to be verifying an Argentinian every nine seconds during a secret day this month, according to an Aug. 31 blog post.
The project reported that 9,500 Argentines have successfully verified their World ID on the platform, indicating its significant popularity in the South American country. In addition, due to overwhelming demand, the World App briefly claimed first place in the Argentine App Store ranking.
Alex Blania, co-founder of Worldcoin and CEO of Tools for Humanity, described Argentina as one of the most crypto-forward countries in the world. Blania pointed out that Argentines were “much more sensitive and understood the fundamental principles of crypto.”
Argentina’s struggling economy, marred by rampant inflation, has prompted the population to increasingly embrace cryptocurrencies to protect their assets from the ongoing financial turmoil.
Earlier this month, a pro-BTC candidate, Javier Milei, unexpectedly won the country’s main presidential race, propelling the flagship to an all-time high against the Argentine peso.
World currency is under investigation
Despite its much-touted popularity, Worldcoin is currently under investigation in several jurisdictions.
Argentina’s Public Information Access Agency has announced its intention to conduct a comprehensive review of Worldcoin’s processes and procedures regarding the acquisition, retention and use of its citizens’ personal data.
The agency stated that it is committed to taking appropriate action to resolve any issues that may come to light during this review.
Meanwhile, Worldcoin faces regulatory challenges in other jurisdictions, such as Kenya, which has outright suspended its operations. Kenyan authorities claimed that Worldcoin started its activities disguised as a research project in the African country.
In addition, several privacy regulators in Britain, France and Germany have launched separate investigations into Worldcoin’s collection of biometric data to verify identities.
However, Worldcoin told CryptoStores that it complies with local laws governing the collection of personal data in all of its operating markets.
WLD struggles
Dates from CryptoStores shows Worldcoin’s WLD token is down nearly 9% in the past 24 hours to $1.19866 as of this writing.
This continues a downward trend, with the digital asset losing more than 50% of its value within a month of its launch.
During this time, on-chain data from Etherscan shows that the project has 6153 holders and only 32,119 transfers have taken place.