Worldcoin, co-founded by Open AI CEO Sam Altman, has recently announced the integration of its World ID with popular platforms such as Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram, Shopify and Mercado Libre.
The blockchain project, which launched four months ago, introduced an upgraded version of its "Digital Passport" with World ID 2.0 to enhance online verification, distinguishing between bots and verified humans with World ID 2.0.
The aim is to make their Orbs, used for iris scanning, available globally.
Worldcoin is also expanding its onboarding operations in Mexico and Singapore, with plans to extend to more Asian countries.
But Worldcoin has faced challenges, such as a ban in Kenya over data security and privacy concerns, and criticisms for allegedly targeting developing countries by offering financial incentives for signing up.
New integrations
Tiago Sada, head of product for Tools for Humanity and a core contributor at Worldcoin, emphasised the simplicity for developers in building integrations with the updated protocol.
The new integrations enable functionalities like granting special permissions on Reddit or facilitating fraud prevention on Shopify, using the World ID.
Courtney Geesey-Dorr, senior communications manager at Reddit, clarified that the Reddit integration is through its public API and not an official Reddit-supported integration.
In addition to the integrations, Worldcoin has introduced three levels of authentication – casual, standard, and high security – each escalating in identity verification measures, including iris and facial recognition.
Not foolproof
Despite its focus on anonymity, where users are not required to disclose real names or IDs, the system is not foolproof.
Each device can create one World ID, but using multiple devices allows the creation of multiple IDs, a loophole acknowledged by Sada.
The company reports nearly 5 million global users of World ID, with some 2.6 million having used the Orb hardware for iris scanning.
In just the past week, more than 100,000 new accounts were created.
Despite this growth, Sada acknowledges the distance from global adoption and is focused on further improvements and global reach in 2024.