世界幣重啟：山姆奧特曼的加密貨幣驅動的線上身分企業發展速度比以往任何時候都快——但歐洲除外

從歐洲向發展中國家的轉變凸顯了世界幣最近的重啟。

Worldcoin, an initiative spearheaded by Sam Altman, is encountering obstacles in Europe due to stringent data privacy regulations. While the venture boasts rapid growth and a presence in Latin America, its operations remain stalled in several regions.

由 Sam Altman 發起的世界幣計劃由於嚴格的資料隱私法規而在歐洲遇到了障礙。儘管該合資企業擁有快速成長並在拉丁美洲開展業務，但在幾個地區的業務仍停滯不前。

Worldcoin’s mission is to establish a decentralized online identity system, aiming to provide users with a cryptographically verifiable proof of their humanity. This endeavor entails collecting unique biometric data, specifically iris scans, to generate World IDs.

世界幣的使命是建立一個去中心化的線上身分系統，旨在為用戶提供可加密驗證的人性證明。這項工作需要收集獨特的生物識別數據，特別是虹膜掃描，以產生世界 ID。

However, the venture’s aggressive approach to growth has landed it in hot water with regulatory bodies. Despite handling sensitive biometric information, Worldcoin did not seek prior approval from health officials or data privacy agencies before commencing its global rollout in July 2023.

然而，該合資企業激進的成長方式使其陷入了監管機構的困境。儘管處理敏感的生物識別信息，世界幣在 2023 年 7 月開始全球推廣之前並未尋求衛生官員或數據隱私機構的事先批准。

Fatemeh Fannizadeh, general counsel for the Anoma Foundation, highlights the concerning tactics employed by the venture.

Anoma 基金會總法律顧問 Fatemeh Fannizadeh 強調了該企業所採用的令人擔憂的策略。

“The early days of Worldcoin iris scanning was absolutely not cute,” Fannizadeh told DL News in an interview.

「早期的世界幣虹膜掃描絕對不可愛，」范尼扎德在接受 DL News 採訪時表示。

“They went to regions where the need for a small amount of money was high, where people would more easily part with their sensitive biometric data.”

“他們去了那些對少量資金需求量很大的地區，那裡的人們更容易放棄敏感的生物識別數據。”

Worldcoin’s entry into various nations, including Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, Spain, and Portugal, prompted swift reactions from authorities. In Portugal, the data regulator, the CNPD, sanctioned World for collecting data from minors.

世界幣進入新加坡、香港、英國、西班牙和葡萄牙等多個國家，引起了當局的迅速反應。在葡萄牙，資料監管機構 CNPD 制裁了 World 收集未成年人資料的行為。

“The report from CNPD is the first time we are hearing from them regarding many of these matters, including reports of underage sign-ups in Portugal,” Jannick Preiwisch, the Worldcoin Foundation’s data protection officer, told DL News in an email.

世界幣基金會資料保護官員 Jannick Preiwisch 在一封電子郵件中告訴 DL News：“CNPD 的報告是我們第一次收到他們關於許多此類問題的報告，包括葡萄牙未成年人註冊的報告。”

Despite the venture’s crypto ethos, which typically champions privacy, Worldcoin is being investigated for potentially violating one of the world’s most stringent data privacy regimes — the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

儘管該企業的加密精神通常倡導隱私，但 Worldcoin 正在接受調查，因為它可能違反了世界上最嚴格的資料隱私製度之一——歐盟的《一般資料保護規範》(GDPR)。

In Germany, the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection (BayLDA) has been investigating World for more than two years, examining whether the venture infringed on consumers’ rights to data privacy.

在德國，巴伐利亞州資料保護辦公室 (BayLDA) 對 World 進行了兩年多的調查，審查該企業是否侵犯了消費者的資料隱私權。

Michael Will, the agency’s president, told DL News in an interview that World could be prohibited from operating in the 27-nation bloc until it becomes compliant.

該機構總裁 Michael Will 在接受 DL News 採訪時表示，在遵守規定之前，World 可能會被禁止在這個 27 國集團中運作。

Being locked out of a potential user base of 448 million would certainly deal a blow to World’s aspirations of onboarding a total of 1 billion users.

被排除在 4.48 億潛在用戶群之外肯定會對 World 吸引 10 億用戶的願望造成打擊。

A World spokesperson told DL News that the firm complies with GDPR and remains committed to compliance with applicable laws.

World 發言人告訴 DL News，該公司遵守 GDPR，並繼續致力於遵守適用的法律。

Co-founded in 2019 by OpenAI’s Altman, Alex Blania, a German entrepreneur, and Max Novendstern, Worldcoin has attracted a hefty $250 million in investment capital from Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, among other backers.

Worldcoin 由 OpenAI 的 Altman、德國企業家 Alex Blania 和 Max Novendstern 於 2019 年共同創立，吸引了來自 Andreessen Horowitz 和 Coinbase Ventures 等支持者的 2.5 億美元巨額投資。

The venture’s business gamble is bold: to provide billions of online users with an irrefutable way to prove they are human and not bots or artificial intelligence (AI) programs.

該合資企業的商業賭博是大膽的：為數十億線上用戶提供一種無可辯駁的方式來證明他們是人類，而不是機器人或人工智慧（AI）程式。

In theory, this distinction will become invaluable as the internet is increasingly populated by AI programs that can convincingly impersonate human beings.

從理論上講，隨著網路上越來越多的人工智慧程式可以令人信服地模仿人類，這種區別將變得非常寶貴。

If it all sounds like the plot of a “Black Mirror” episode, the orbs only solidify the idea. Even Altman himself says the spheres have “a clear ick factor.”

如果這一切聽起來像是《黑鏡》劇集的情節，那麼這些球體只會鞏固這個想法。就連奧特曼本人也表示，這些球體有「明顯的令人厭惡的因素」。

World uses basketball-sized, silver and white orbs to scan irises and convert the data into a string of letters and numbers called an iris code.

World 使用籃球大小的銀白色球體掃描虹膜，並將資料轉換為一串字母和數字，稱為虹膜代碼。

This code generates a World ID, a digital passport that World hopes will become as ubiquitous as Google’s sign-in feature. Users also get World’s native WLD cryptocurrency.

程式碼會產生一個 World ID，這是一個數位護照，World 希望它能像 Google 的登入功能一樣普及。用戶還可以獲得世界原生的 WLD 加密貨幣。

But the novelty of World’s business model has clashed with the reality of consumer health and privacy protections. World no longer operates in the UK, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Kenya, among other nations.

但世界商業模式的新穎性與消費者健康和隱私保護的現實發生了衝突。 World 不再在英國、巴西、香港和肯亞等國家/地區營運。

“It’s often a conscious decision to rapidly expand despite regulatory uncertainty or to operate in a grey area and deal with it later,” Reuben Yap, co-founder of privacy protocol Firo and former partner at Malaysian law firm Reddi & Co Advocates, told DL News in an interview.

隱私協議Firo 聯合創始人、馬來西亞Reddi & Co Advocates 律師事務所前合夥人Reuben Yap 告訴《DL》：「儘管存在監管不確定性，但仍要迅速擴張，或者在灰色地帶運營，然後再處理，這往往是一個有意識的決定。

“Crypto is not alone in pursuing this; companies like Airbnb and Uber also took similar risks. They wouldn’t have grown to their size if they checked with regulators first.”

「加密貨幣並不是唯一追求這一目標的公司； Airbnb 和 Uber 等公司也承擔了類似的風險。如果他們先與監管機構核實，他們就不會發展到現在的規模。

It’s in Bavaria, of all places, where the company is facing its sternest test. Even as its probe continues, the BayLDA has directed World to check user IDs to ensure it isn’t scanning minors.

在巴伐利亞州，該公司面臨最嚴峻的考驗。儘管調查仍在繼續，BayLDA 仍指示 World 檢查用戶 ID，以確保不會掃描未成年人。

A spokesperson for the BayLDA told DL News in December that it can’t provide any additional updates.

BayLDA 的一位發言人去年 12 月告訴 DL News，它無法提供任何額外的更新。

In the past year, World has been roiled by other controversies.

在過去的一年裡，《世界》還受到其他爭議的困擾。

In September, a DL News investigation reported that criminal groups paid cash to homeless individuals, refugees, and drug addicts to have their eyes scanned at kiosks in Berlin and then kick back portions of the crypto they received in exchange.

9 月，DL News 的一項調查報告稱，犯罪團夥向無家可歸者、難民和吸毒成癮者支付現金，讓他們在柏林的服務亭進行眼睛掃描，然後回扣他們作為交換而收到的部分加密貨幣。

At least one group may have raked in nearly $700,000 worth of WLD tokens

至少有一個團體可能已經賺得了價值近 70 萬美元的 WLD 代幣