Suspension of Sam Altman-founded Worldcoin in Spain extended, crypto plunges 55% since March peak

The ban on World coin (CRYPTO: WLD), a blockchain-based identity verification project, has been extended in Spain until the end of 2024.

What happened: Tools for humanitya project employee, has voluntarily extended the suspension of Worldcoin Orb activities in Spain, The Block reported. Worldcoin’s activities will remain suspended until the end of this year or until the completion of the GDPR audit by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection, the supervisory body that oversees the project across the EU.

The Worldcoin project, supported by Tools for Humanity, aims to establish a system that allows individuals to authenticate their humanity. Participants receive WLD tokens as a reward for having their eyeballs scanned by a Worldcoin orb, which creates a World ID confirming their personhood.

In March, the Spanish Data Protection Authority ordered Worldcoin to cease operations. Tools for Humanity fought against this decision. However, the ban was confirmed by the Spanish National Court.

Why it is important: The extension of the ban reflects the ongoing problems with the new project, which was OpenAI boss Sam Altman last year.

In May, Worldcoin was asked to cease all its activities in Hong Kong due to risks to personal data protection. Previously, the cryptocurrency was banned in Portugal and Kenya.

The project collects people’s irises to authenticate their humanity and creates a digital ID, making them eligible to receive free WLD tokens. However, this process has raised privacy concerns around the world.

Price promotion: WLD is down 0.33% over the past 24 hours and is trading at $4.79 at the time of writing, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The coin’s value has halved since its peak in early March.

Photo courtesy: Worldcoin

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Disclaimer: This content was created in part with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.