Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Delivers Harsh Criticism for Surprise Altcoin
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has severely criticized one of the rival altcoins over privacy concerns.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has issued serious warnings regarding Sam Altman’s digital identity project World (WLD, formerly known as Worldcoin).
While World, which has attracted attention with more than 13 million “unique people” records, continues to grow in the digital identity space, Buterin said such projects could jeopardize online anonymity.
In his paper published today, Buterin assessed the potential benefits and harms of digital identity systems that use zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), arguing that systems based on a “per-person identity” model, such as World, could threaten the privacy of internet users.
“In a per-person identity system, even wrapped in ZK, we run the risk of all your online activities being effectively mapped to a single identity,” Buterin said, noting that eliminating anonymity could have serious negative consequences in an environment of increasing digital threats.
World was developed by Tools for Humanity, a company founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania. Users prove they are human by scanning their eyes with devices called “Orbs” and thus receive both a World ID and WLD tokens. The biometric data used in the identity creation process is protected by ZK technology.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has severely criticized one of the rival altcoins over privacy concerns.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has issued serious warnings regarding Sam Altman’s digital identity project World (WLD, formerly known as Worldcoin).
While World, which has attracted attention with more than 13 million “unique people” records, continues to grow in the digital identity space, Buterin said such projects could jeopardize online anonymity.
In his paper published today, Buterin assessed the potential benefits and harms of digital identity systems that use zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), arguing that systems based on a “per-person identity” model, such as World, could threaten the privacy of internet users.
“In a per-person identity system, even wrapped in ZK, we run the risk of all your online activities being effectively mapped to a single identity,” Buterin said, noting that eliminating anonymity could have serious negative consequences in an environment of increasing digital threats.
World was developed by Tools for Humanity, a company founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania. Users prove they are human by scanning their eyes with devices called “Orbs” and thus receive both a World ID and WLD tokens. The biometric data used in the identity creation process is protected by ZK technology.
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