Sam Altman-Founded Worldcoin Outstrips Gains Of Bitcoin, Ethereum After Major Relief From Kenyan Authorities

Blockchain-based identity verification project Worldcoin WLD/USD surged sharply Thursday, outstripping the gains of coins with a much higher market cap.

What Happened: Worldcoin emerged as the second best-performing token in the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, spiking more than 7%. This came on the day when blue-chip coins like Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD remained glued to their ranges.

Worldcoin's trading volume jumped 74% to $275 million in the last 24 hours, indicating significant buying pressure. 

The rally comes after Kenyan authorities discontinued an inquiry into the project’s alleged misuse of customers’ personal data, according to a Reuters report. 

Kenya was one of the first countries to launch an investigation into Worldcoin's collection of users' irises, leading to a suspension in August last year. With the probe dropped, Worldcoin was expected to resume operations. 

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Why It Matters: Worldcoin, which was launched by OpenAI Chief Sam Altman last year, has faced stringent scrutiny over the nature of its operations. 

The project collects people's irises to authenticate their humanness and creates a digital ID, making them eligible to receive free WLD tokens. 

However, concerns about privacy breaches and data misuse have surfaced, prompting enforcement action in many countries.

The project's suspension was extended in Spain earlier this month. Before that, it was asked to shut down all its operations in Hong Kong.

Price Action: At the time of writing, WLD was exchanging hands at $3.03, up 7.2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Photo via Shutterstock

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