Worldcoin is a start-up trying to engineer widespread adoption for its cryptocurrency by giving away tokens. Sound too good to be true? Depends how you look at it (literally). Participants must be willing to have their eyes scanned on registration by a proprietary iris scanner dubbed 'orb'. Worldcoin says the scan is necessary to prove that users are human and to verify they only register once. The start-up has attracted big investors but it has also raised concerns among an increasingly privacy-conscious public with some labeling it a MLM.

We were joined by co-founder and CEO, Alex Blania, who explained the idea behind Worldcoin and the aspect of UBI, the current number of orbs in circulation and users, and he addresses the criticisms they have faced so far. Worldcoin is due to launch later this year.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Alex's background and how he got into crypto
• The idea behind Worldcoin and the aspect of UBI
• How does the orb work?
• How they have reacted to some of the criticism regarding privacy and onboarding
• A deep dive into how the protocol works
• The incentive mechanism with Worldcoin
• An overview of Worldcoin users
• The corporate structure of Worldcoin
• Regulatory issues

Episode links:

• Worldcoin
• Worldcoin on Twitter
• Alex on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Chorus One: Chorus One runs validators on cutting edge Proof of Stake networks such as Cosmos, Solana, Celo, Polkadot and Oasis. - https://epicenter.rocks/chorusone
• ParaSwap: ParaSwap aggregates all major DEXs and makes sure you beat the market price at every single swap and with the lowest slippage - paraswap.io/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/435