SBF sentenced, Worldcoin hit with another ban order and big web3 pre-seed rounds are backWelcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
This week in web3Crunching numbersThis week the crypto market prices were a bit more chipper, with the top cryptocurrencies being green on the week.
The second-largest crypto, ether, increased 2.6% on the week to $3,550, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Zero-knowledge proofs are a cryptographic action used to prove something about a piece of data, without revealing the origin data itself.
Scott and I discuss Space and Time’s origin story, how data warehouses work in Web 2.0 versus web3 and the importance of data transparency.
Controversial crypto biometrics venture Worldcoin has been almost entirely booted out of Europe after being hit with another temporary ban — this time in Portugal.
The order from the country’s data protection authority comes hard on the heels of the same type of three-month stop-processing order from Spain’s DPA earlier this month.
Portugal’s data protection authority said it issued the three-month ban on Worldcoin’s local ops Tuesday after receiving complaints Worldcoin had scanned children’s eyeballs.
By contrast, EU data protection law gives people in the region a suite of rights over their personal data, including the ability to have data about them corrected, amended or deleted.
As Tools for Humanity’s lead DPA, under the one-stop-shop (OSS) mechanism in bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it is responsible for investigating privacy and data protection complaints about the company.
Bitcoin hits new high, Solana price jumps as memecoins mania rises and Worldcoin faces heat in SpainWelcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
Hello and welcome back to the TechCrunch Crypto newsletter.
This week in web3Crunching numbersAs mentioned, this week the crypto space saw all-time highs for bitcoin, again.
Memecoins across the Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche blockchains have seen a huge rally as the crypto market continues to expand.
It’s important to remember that while some memecoins will retain price support for an extended period of time, some can plummet within days, or hours.
Controversial eyeball scanning startup Worldcoin has failed to get an injunction against a temporary suspension ordered Wednesday by Spain’s data protection authority, the AEPD.
Today a Madrid-based High Court declined to grant an injunction against the AEPD’s order, saying that the “safeguarding of public interest” must be prioritized.
However the court found the AEPD’s suspension order to be justified on account of the risks around biometric data and how many individuals are being put at risk by Worldcoin’s processing, including children.
Again, the Court was unimpressed, dismissing what it described as “unsubstantiated assertions” and pointing out the AEPD’s suspension is time-limited; only applies in Spain; and is compensable (i.e.
Reached for comment on the dismissal of its appeal for an injunction, Tools for Humanity’s spokeswoman, Rebecca Hahn, emailed a statement she said is attributable to Worldcoin:
A German subsidiary involved in Sam Altman’s controvercial crypto blockchain digital identity business, Worldcoin, was reported Friday to have filed a legal challenge against a suspension order from Spain’s data protection authority.
Here’s Worldcoin’s statement in full:Worldcoin is fully compliant with all laws and regulations governing biometric data collection and data transfer, including Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
Nor to confirm whether Worldcoin and its operators in Spain have complied with the local order to stop scanning and processing data of people from the market.
If that happens, disputes over decisions are either resolved via majority votes or, if DPAs remain split, the European Data Protection Board gets a casting vote.
The article also notes that “several” EU authorities are currently investigating whether Worldcoin complies with the GDPR.
Spain’s data protection authority has ordered Worldcoin to temporarily stop collecting and processing personal data from the market.
Data protection authorities can also demand unlawful processing to stop, including temporarily if they are concerned people’s rights are at serious risk, as is happening here.
An investigation was opened by France’s data protection authority last year.
It also said then that it would be seeking to ascertain whether Worldcoin had carried out a data protection impact assessment.
In another set-back last year, Kenya’s data protection authority issued a ban on Worldcoin’s local processing.
Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” The next iteration will look similar to an “Apple product,” CEO saysIt’s been a little over 180 days since Worldcoin publicly launched – and its futuristic looking Orb device is getting an upgrade, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
“The new orb is coming” and the “next iterations will look quite different,” Blania said during a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event on Wednesday.
The next Orb will roll out the first half of this year and will have alternative colors and “form factors,” in an effort to look “much more friendly,” Blania shared.
Tools for Humanity is the company that created Worldcoin, the crypto project co-founded by Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern.
Its flagship device is a five-pound chromatic bowling ball-sized device that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” The next iteration will look similar to an “Apple product,” CEO saysIt’s been a little over 180 days since Worldcoin publicly launched – and its futuristic looking Orb device is getting an upgrade, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
“The new orb is coming” and the “next iterations will look quite different,” Blania said during a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event on Wednesday.
The next Orb will roll out the first half of this year and will have alternative colors and “form factors,” in an effort to look “much more friendly,” Blania shared.
Tools for Humanity is the company that created Worldcoin, the crypto project co-founded by Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern.
Its flagship device is a five-pound chromatic bowling ball-sized device that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” The next iteration will look similar to an “Apple product,” CEO saysIt’s been a little over 180 days since Worldcoin publicly launched – and its futuristic looking Orb device is getting an upgrade, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
“The new orb is coming” and the “next iterations will look quite different,” Blania said during a fireside chat at a StrictlyVC event on Wednesday.
The next Orb will roll out the first half of this year and will have alternative colors and “form factors,” in an effort to look “much more friendly,” Blania shared.
Tools for Humanity is the company that created Worldcoin, the crypto project co-founded by Blania, Sam Altman and Max Novendstern.
Its flagship device is a five-pound chromatic bowling ball-sized device that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb-verification service in India, Brazil, and France, just months after the crypto startup expanded the helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device to those markets.
The Orb, a five-pound chromatic sphere, scans an individual’s eyeballs and verifies their identity.
“The multi-city tour kicked off in Tokyo in April 2023 and marked the first time people in many locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia were able to experience the Orb.
Individuals can download World App, the startup’s protocol-compatible wallet software, and visit an Orb, the startup’s helmet-shaped eyeball-scanning verification device, to receive their World ID.
More to follow…
