China labels Worldcoin-style biometric crypto projects as ‘security threats’

Key Takeaways

China cautions against crypto projects that scan for biometric data, citing a threat to national security. The Ministry of State Security urged the public to report such suspicious activities. 

 China has issued a warning against iris-scanning and other personal data collection projects as a threat to national security. 

In a statement on WeChat, the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) made a veiled threat to Worldcoin [WLD]-like iris scanning operations. Part of the translated message read, 

“A certain overseas company used the pretext of issuing cryptocurrency tokens to scan and collect users’ iris information worldwide, then transferred the data source…”

The state added that face, fingerprint, iris, gait recognition, and other key biometric identification tech as crucial in the digital era. 

However, they are also prone to privacy, data leakage, and national security risks. As such, the ministry urged citizens to report any suspicious biometric data collection to the national security agency. 

Worldcoin woes

Worldcoin is the most renowned project in the space that seeks to differentiate humans from AI bots in a post-AGI (artificial general intelligence) era. 

We already have deepfake AI platforms like Omnihuman, which are getting better each day.

With the expected proliferation of AI agents doing anything from shopping to travel assistants, it’ll get harder to separate bots from real humans. 

That’s what Worldcoin’s humanity layer seeks to solve by scanning for unique human identifiers. To this end, the project offered WLD, its native token, as an incentive for users to submit their biometric data. 

But several countries and jurisdictions have banned their scanning activities, including Kenya, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Hong Kong. 

As such, while not directly aimed at Worldcoin, it could be an implied warning to it and any similar crypto project. 

That said, WLD dipped 5% following the statement on the 5th of August. It was not clear whether the decline was tied to the Chinese update because there was a broader sell-off across equities, too. 

Meanwhile, there have been several rumors about a new crypto ban on personal ownership, including Bitcoin [BTC]. 

However, AMBCrypto found zero evidence to verify these claims. This suggested that the coordinated fake news could have been a manipulation tactic.

It could have been aimed at driving prices lower and offering discounted market prices for select cryptocurrencies.

At press time, BTC traded at $114K, about 7% down from recent highs above $120K.