Worldcoin Shifts Focus Away from Europe: Exec Reveals Priorities in Asia and Latin America

• Worldcoin is shifting its focus from Europe to regions like Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

• The project is collaborating with local platforms in Malaysia and Argentina to integrate its World ID technology.

Worldcoin, a digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is shifting its primary focus from Europe to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin America (LATAM) regions.

According to Fabian Bodensteiner, the chief executive officer of Worldcoin Europe, the company is currently focusing on countries that are more proactive in the integration of technology. At the Sifted Summit, a conference for European startups, he said that Worldcoin is currently focusing its efforts where the most significant potential for business development is.

“We just see a larger dynamic in other regions of the world,” Bodensteiner said, emphasizing the need to pay attention to the growth markets, including APAC and LATAM, where countries like Japan, Malaysia, and Argentina can become the fastest adopters of the digital identity technologies.

Worldcoin is also in talks with leading game publishers in the APAC region about using its digital identification solution, World ID, in gaming applications. This partnership is designed to foster the early implementation of the project in technologically advanced markets.

For instance, in Malaysia, Worldcoin is working with Mimos, the national applied research and development center and MyEG Services, e-government services app. These partnerships are meant to help launch World ID as a kind of “digital passport” which offers secure and verified user identities.

Latin America also presents a fertile ground for Worldcoin’s expansion. The project has already completed its first World ID verifications in Argentina, a market slowly adopting digital solutions due to the need for secure identity verification.

European expansion faces legal hurdles 

However, Worldcoin has not neglected the European market even though it has been expanding its operations to other regions. Since its launch in July 2023, it has faced legal issues, most of which are related to the application of iris biometrics for passenger identification. In July 2023, German officials from the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) began an investigation into Worldcoin, citing concerns over biometric data gathering.

Worldcoin is still in communication with European regulators and is waiting for the BayLDA’s decision, which is expected in the last week of October. Although some of the European countries like Spain and Portugal have halted the operations of Worldcoin due to the issue of data privacy, the project has been doing well in other aspects. In September, Worldcoin started its operations in Poland and started World ID verifications in Austria in July.

Despite these setbacks, Worldcoin remains dedicated to maintaining its presence in Europe.  Bodensteiner reiterated the firm’s willingness to engage with the European authorities and overcome legal challenges. “We want to make it work here; we don’t just want to leave Europe and dodge things,” he said, emphasizing the project’s long-term vision for the European market.