French Data Regulator Conducts Unannounced Inspection At Worldcoin's Paris Office

The French regulatory body Commission Nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL), which oversees compliance with data protection legislation in the country, carried out an unannounced inspection at Worldcoin's Orb center amid the heightened regulatory scrutiny of the iris biometric scanning cryptocurrency project.

The continued regulatory pressure on Worldcoin has served as one of the major factors in the downtrend of its native cryptocurrency, WLD.

Officials from CNIL made a surprise visit to Worldcoin's Paris hub last week and spoke to its top executive, Politico reported, citing two employees.

The delegation dropped by Worldcoin's Orb center, situated in a co-working space, where it scans people's iris, so they can access its services, including its crypto asset WLD. The center also houses the company's devices used to obtain and store people's iris biometrics.

CNIL is one of the many regulators across the globe conducting an investigation on Worldcoin, although it previously clarified that its current role is to support an EU investigation led by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision, which has been investigating the cryptocurrency project for months.

Following the launch of Worldcoin in July, the French regulator said, "The legality of this collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for storing biometric data."

A few days after the report came out, a CNIL spokesperson seemingly confirmed the unannounced inspection at Worldcoin's Paris hub, saying that "checks took place at the Worldcoin offices."

Worldcoin, in response to the report, said, "The team at Worldcoin welcomes any opportunity to address questions regarding the project's purpose and technology."

Despite the global regulatory scrutiny, Worldcoin announced last week that "demand for World ID in Argentina drove a new single-day record for Orb verifications" and that around 9,500 Argentinians verified their World ID in a day, which is equivalent to "one verified human in Argentina every 9 seconds," adding that the country just set a "new world record."

The information is interesting considering that earlier in August, the Argentine Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP) started its investigation into Worldcoin over the legality of its data collection.

The AAIP recommended that Worldcoin register with the agency, and disclose its data processing policy, including the purpose of sensitive data collection and the period for storing data.

Amid the bear market and regulatory pressure, WLD's value continues to plummet.

As of 3:42 a.m. ET on Tuesday, WLD was trading down at $1.04, with a 24-hour trading volume up by 38.01% at $65,922,625, representing a 9.18% decrease in the last 24 hours and a 10.1% loss over the past seven days.

Based on the latest data from CoinMarketCap, WLD's total circulating supply stands at 128,508,160 WLD, with its value down by 8.98% at a $133,690,819 market cap.