Vitalik says Worldcoin’s Iris Scanning ‘Sufficient’ in Privacy Preservation

As the Worldcoin mainnet goes live, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts on Worldcoin and the broader topic of biometric proof of personhood in a detailed blog post.

Worldcoin, backed by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, is a proof of personhood initiative to distinguish genuine human identities from bots and other artificial identities. The distinguishing factor? A specialized ‘Orb’ hardware scans an individual’s iris for biometric proof.

Buterin’s Take on Worldcoin’s Approach and Privacy Concerns

In the detailed analysis of Worldcoin’s approach to biometric identification, Buterin acknowledges the privacy benefits of storing iris hashes. “To me, the privacy of storing iris hashes seems sufficient,” he asserts, indicating an acceptance of the privacy levels afforded by this method.

However, as Buterin points out, while Worldcoin presents a compelling solution to complex identity issues, it is not without its share of concerns.

Buterin further defends the use of specialized hardware like Worldcoin’s Orb in identity verification, emphasizing their superiority in terms of security.

He argues, “Specialized hardware is inherently harder to fool than commodity hardware, which is in turn harder to fool than digital algorithms verifying pictures and videos.” The crux of these concerns is the delicate balance between privacy preservation and identity verifiability.

As Buterin explains, hashing iris scans to limit data exposure doesn’t entirely eliminate privacy concerns. “It enables others to check if a user has registered,” he notes. Furthermore, using proprietary hardware like Worldcoin’s Orb presents potential barriers to accessibility, creating a risk of centralization.

To combat these issues, Worldcoin is reportedly turning towards open sourcing, decentralization of Orb manufacturing, and governance decentralization over time.

Solutions to Tackle Identity Verification Issues

However, hurdles remain, including coercion prevention and…