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Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the major issues with the Proof-of-Personhood authentication system used by Worldcoin, a new crypto project.
On June 24, Worldcoin released its mainnet alongside its native WLD token. The project, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, involves the creation of World IDs using users’ iris scans to prove that they are human, and not a bot. However, Worldcoin’s Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) method has attracted widespread concerns from many developers, including Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin.
What do I think about biometric proof of personhood?https://t.co/yozo1buW24
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 24, 2023
In his blog post, Buterin claimed that the identification system used by Worldcoin is vulnerable to security, privacy, centralization, and accessibility issues. He cautioned that even if a “hash” of a person’s iris gets leaked, hackers can use it to identify their gender, ethnicity, and medical records. In his words,
“If someone else scans your iris, they can check it against the database to determine whether or not you have a World ID. Potentially, iris scans might reveal more information.”
He highlighted the difficulties in distributing enough specialized iris-scanning hardware (called Orbs) to make the new identification system accessible to all users. He also noted that hackers can install backdoors into the Orbs. By doing so, the malicious actors can create multiple fake IDs. Moreover, hackers can easily steal the security that controls a person’s World ID by gaining access to their phone.
However, Buterin acknowledged that Proof-of-Personhood systems have certain benefits despite their inherent risks. According to him, a world without any PoP authentication methods would be dominated by money, centralized powers, closed-off communities, or a mixture of all three. He concluded by stating,
“The concept of proof-of-personhood in principle seems very valuable, and while the various implementations have their risks, not having any proof-of-personhood at all has its risks too.”
It is worth noting that Worldcoin's WLD token experienced over 75% increase in its price within hours of its release. WLD is currently priced at $2.43 and many crypto exchanges have announced their plans to list the token over the coming days.