Worldcoin’s newest device, the Orb Mini, designed for facilitating mobile human verification, has been met with derision across Crypto Twitter.
Debuting with the tagline “It travels where you do,” the gadget has instead sparked dystopian analogies and extensive ridicule for its eerie implications and ambiguous purpose.
“The reality of humans is that they can discern when another human is present,” Alicia Katz from decentralized finance (DeFi) lending service Euler Finance noted on X.
“When something feels a bit off, they can encounter the uncanny valley, an unsettling sensation akin to when your date attempts to scan your eyeball,” she elaborated.
Another individual joked, “Is this so you can enlist your friends?” comparing the gadget to a sci-fi artifact rather than a legitimate identity solution.
The Orb Mini is a compact iris-scanning contraption that generates a distinct World ID for users saved on the blockchain. It resembles a smartphone with discernible eye sensors, serving as a smaller, more convenient version of Worldcoin’s original Orb.
Launched at the “At Last” event in San Francisco on April 30, the gadget is part of a wider initiative by Tools for Humanity, which also intends to deploy 7,500 Orb units throughout the US by the end of the year.
Related: Sam Altman’s eye-scanning crypto initiative World launches in the US
Crypto enthusiasts question Orb Mini’s viability
Numerous influential figures expressed worries regarding security, ethics, and fundamental practicality.
“What genuine issue does this address?” one user inquired, while others ridiculed its susceptibility to deception, with one tweet proposing that the device “might be tricked by a moderately good AI depiction of a human.”
In the same conversation, one user ironically suggested a “rectal probe” for more reliable identity verification, asserting, “Every individual’s anal print is distinct.”
Critics also denounced the device’s societal ramifications. Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten referred to the Orb Mini as a “creepy dystopia-shilling” instrument, proposing that the offering reflects insecurity among its inventors rather than resolving any actual trust dilemma.
Related: Brazil’s data authority upholds prohibition on World crypto transactions
Worldcoin encounters opposition
Worldcoin’s endeavor to mainstream biometric identity instruments continues to face resistance, particularly as privacy proponents raise concerns about decentralization, surveillance, and bodily autonomy.
On May 5, the firm, supported by Sam Altman’s Tools for Humanity, confronted challenges in Indonesia after local authorities temporarily halted its registration certificates.
Several global regulators have pushed back against World’s operations since its debut in July 2023, with governments such as Germany, Kenya, and Brazil expressing worries over potential risks to the security of users’ biometric data.
