Indonesia suspends Worldcoin’s eye-scanning operation over privacy concerns.

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin aims to create a secure digital identity using biometric iris scans, but faces mounting regulatory scrutiny globally.

Indonesia has suspended the operations of crypto project Worldcoin following complaints from the public and suspicious activity linked to the platform, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics announced on Thursday.

The ministry said it was summoning local partners of the project, PT Terang Bulan Abadi and PT Sandina Abadi Nusantara, for further questioning.

“The freezing is a preventive measure to prevent potential risk to the public,” the ministry’s director general for digital space supervision, Alexander Sabar, stated in a press release.

The announcement comes after several countries, including Kenya, Hong Kong, Portugal and Spain, have blocked or suspended Worldcoin’s activities due to concerns over the collection of biometric data.

The project, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, aims to create a secure digital identity using a tokenized system that can be accessed by scanning people’s irises with an orb-shaped device.

The technology is designed to distinguish humans from AI bots in a world increasingly reliant on automation and deepfakes, according to the project’s website. Each scan generates a unique “World ID,” which can be used to log into the project’s crypto ecosystem.

However, the scope of data collected by the orbs and the security measures in place have been the subject of contention among regulators.

The ministry said in a separate statement last month that it was freezing the project’s activities in response to complaints from the public and following suspicious behavior linked to the platform. It added that it was investigating whether the project’s activities complied with local regulations.

Worldcoin's activities have also been suspended in several other countries, including Kenya, Hong Kong, Portugal and Spain, due to concerns over the collection of biometric data.

The project, which is co-founded by Altman, aims to create a new cryptocurrency and a vast decentralized identity network by scanning people's irises with an orb-shaped device. The technology is designed to distinguish humans from AI bots in a world increasingly reliant on automation and deepfakes, according to the project's website.

Every scan generates a unique "World ID," which can be used to log into Worldcoin's crypto ecosystem and access various services, such as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and Web3 applications.

The project claims that the biometric data collected by the orbs is encrypted and fully anonymized, and that users have full control over their World IDs. However, data privacy advocates have raised concerns over the potential for abuse and the lack of transparency in the project's operations.

Worldcoin's suspension in Indonesia comes at a time when the country's authorities are stepping up their efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency industry and protect consumers from scams.

Earlier this year, Indonesia's central bank ordered local banks to cease providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges, and the government imposed a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies for payments. The move was part of a broader crackdown on illicit financial activity.