- Singapore is cracking down on third-party sales and purchases of Worldcoin accounts
- Regulators around the world are not very happy with Worldcoin’s practices
Worldcoin has been at the center of many controversies over the past year. The retina-scanning crypto startup popularly known for capturing identifying data is in the news again today after Singapore’s Gan Kim Yong hinted at an ongoing investigation into the sales and purchases of third-party Worldcoin accounts .
Yong, the nation-state’s deputy prime minister and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, claimed in parliament that seven people are currently under investigation. These seven ‘topics’ are said to have offered services for buying or selling Worldcoin accounts. This is an offense under Singapore’s Payment Services Act 2019. According to him statement,
“…Worldcoin does not operate a payment service under the PS Act. However, individuals who buy or sell Worldcoin accounts and tokens as a business can offer a payment service.”
Yong’s statement was in response to parliamentary questions from two ministers of parliament: Rachel Ong and Derrick Goh. This comes on the back of the country’s police who last month warned its citizens against selling their Worldcoin accounts or tokens.
Worldcoin’s global dilemma!
Here it is worth emphasizing that this is not, however, Worldcoin’s first rodeo with laws and regulations around the world. Because it handles a lot of sensitive information, including biometric data, regulators have reiterated that the startup must always adhere to data protection and privacy laws.
In Argentina, for example, Worldcoin enjoyed enormous popularity thanks to inflation that reached as much as 250%. And yet it was investigated by the Access to Public Information Agency for its data collection practices. Provinces such as Buenos Aires have even fined the Foundation more than 190 million pesos, accusing it of not properly handling biometric data.
Likewise, supervisors in both Hong-Kong And Colombia have alleged that Worldcoin has consistently violated their local data privacy laws.