Last week, I saw a news report about a bizarre gathering. In the Philippines, it’s common to see people flocking to covered basketball courts for ayuda—food packs, cash assistance, or some government subsidy. But this was different. Instead of relief goods, people were lining up to stare into a palantir, exchanging their iris scans for cryptocurrency.
What? An eyeball-scanning crypto scheme in Bulacan?
That’s right—Worldcoin, a project co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman that claims to offer “financial inclusion for all,” has landed in Bulacan, where locals lined up to have their irises scanned by a device called the “Orb.” No, not a seeing stone from Middle Earth made by the Noldor or Fëanor—just a sleek, silver sphere that definitely doesn’t look suspicious at all.
People reportedly exchanged their eyeball scans in exchange for Worldcoin tokens (WLD), proving once again that the best way to onboard new users into crypto is through mild existential horror. The project aims to establish a global digital identity system by distinguishing humans from bots through biometric verification.
Mild existential horror? Could it be that bad?
Fair point. Maybe “mild existential horror” is a bit dramatic—most people are probably just thinking, “Free money? Nice.” rather than spiraling into a deep philosophical crisis about privacy and digital identity. For a lot of folks, this is just another app to sign up for, another way to make some quick cash. After all, we already trade our personal data for convenience daily—fingerprint unlocks, facial recognition, targeted ads—so what’s one more?
But if you take a step back, there is something a little unsettling about normalizing the idea that your eyeballs are a currency. It’s like we all just collectively shrugged and said, “Sure, take my biometric signature in exchange for some tokens that may or may not hold value in five years.” It’s less existential horror and more mildly dystopian inconvenience. Like surge pricing on ride-hailing apps—annoying, but we just go along with it.
So, no, maybe not full-on horror. Just another day in the never-ending experiment that is modern tech.
But why do people do this?
Because free money, obviously.
Most people probably aren’t overthinking it. In our country where ayuda distributions can mean hours in line for a bag of rice, the idea of getting free crypto in seconds must seem pretty appealing.
And if someone offers you cryptocurrency just for looking into a shiny sphere, the rational response is “Why not?” rather than “Wait, is this how the AI uprising starts?”
And let’s be real: in an economy where passive income sounds like a myth, where so many fall prey to online scams and Ponzi schemes, a few tokens for a few seconds feels like a good deal.
Isn’t that a little… dystopian?
That depends on how much sci-fi you’ve read. On one hand, Worldcoin says it’s all about preventing fraud and ensuring everyone gets a fair shot at digital currency. On the other hand, it’s a privately owned biometric database growing at record speed. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe we ought to be a little concerned about privacy and data security?
Yes, privacy advocates and regulatory bodies have expressed apprehensions. Biometric data, like iris scans, is highly sensitive. If misused, it can lead to identity theft and fraud. BitPinas reported that the National Privacy Commission (NPC) of the Philippines initially issued an advisory urging the public to exercise caution, emphasizing that it did not authorize such data collection activities. However, this advisory was later removed without explanation.
Internationally, Worldcoin has faced regulatory challenges. In December 2024, the Spanish data protection authority ordered the company to delete all collected iris scan data, citing violations of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
How does Worldcoin address these concerns?
Worldcoin asserts that it prioritizes user privacy. According to their Privacy FAQs, the Orb does not store biometric images; instead, data is deleted from the device after processing. Users have control over their information, which is stored on their devices, allowing them to manage or delete it as they see fit. The company emphasizes that it does not seek to know users’ identities but aims to verify their uniqueness.
So… maybe all is well? (Sarcasm, obviously.)
So, is this the future of finance or just another tech gimmick?
Well, Worldcoin is either pioneering the next phase of decentralized finance or laying the groundwork for a cyberpunk-style corporate panopticon. Maybe both! Either way, Bulacan has officially joined the list of places where people are getting paid in crypto for their biological data.
Whether this turns into a groundbreaking financial revolution or just another bizarre chapter in Web3 history remains to be seen. I’m not holding my breath.
But maybe someday, when we all have to unlock our bank accounts with eyeball scans, we might be able to look back and say, “Well, at least we got some free tokens out of it.”