The Worldcoin project, known for its iris scanning identification system, announced a major milestone in Chile. The company reported that it has registered over 1% of the country’s population.
According to the organization behind the project, over 200,000 Chileans have already adopted Worldcoin, reflecting a significant surge in popularity that extends to other South American countries like Argentina, where 9,500 individuals verified their identities in a single day.
Worldcoin claims that Chile is the first country in the world to reach a 1% adoption rate for its protocol. When excluding children under 12 and adults over 60, the adoption rate is even higher, indicating that nearly 10% of Chile’s economically active population has joined the protocol.
This growth highlights the increasing popularity of the project in South American countries, which have shown interest in the World ID application. In response to this demand, Tools For Humanity, a collaborator of Worldcoin, has expanded its operations in Chile by establishing additional verification stations in Vina del Mar and Concepción. They will also continue their verification operations in Santiago, the capital of the country.
Worldcoin’s verification process involves the use of a specific hardware device called the orb, which scans the users’ irises to verify their identity for participation in the Worldcoin system.
In August, the organization reported that over 9,500 Argentinians were registered in a single day, with a verification taking place every nine seconds, a notable achievement considering there were only four verification stations in the country. Additionally, according to data from the Kenyan parliamentary committee investigating the project, 350,000 Kenyans had registered at some point in July, representing 25% of the users on the platform at that time.
However, the Kenyan government suspended Worldcoin’s activities in August and attempted to arrest Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools For Humanity, and Thomas Scott, the legal spokesperson for Tools for Humanity, after they failed to appear before the Kenyan National Assembly for a hearing. The Kenyan government stated that US authorities intervened to ensure the executives’ departure from the country, as they were not found guilty of committing any crimes in Kenya.