Worldcoin Hit With Singapore Investigation Over AML & Terrorism

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister has announced that Worldcoin (WLD), the controversial identity-capturing cryptocurrency project, is under investigation for perpetrating money laundering and terrorism financing.

? Singapore police are investigating seven individuals suspected of providing @worldcoin accounts and token trading services, and have arrested five people. Three men are suspected of recruiting people to create Worldcoin accounts on behalf of multiple entities, and then… pic.twitter.com/BqRWbHii22

— Psquare Daily (@pSquare_Daily) September 10, 2024

7 Subjects Under Police Investigation For Reportedly Offering Third-Party Worldcoin Token & Account Sales

Gan Kim Yong, the deputy prime minister of Singapore and the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), revealed an ongoing investigation into Worldcoin.

Specifically, a group of individuals reportedly offer third-party sales and purchases of Worldcoin accounts and tokens.

During a Parliamentary discussion yesterday (September 9), Yong said seven individuals were under police investigation for offering Worldcoin-related services without the necessary licenses. Doing so is a crime under the Payment Services Act 2019 in Singapore.

“The Police are investigating seven subjects for their suspected involvement in offering the services of buying or selling of Worldcoin accounts and tokens, which constitute offenses under the Payment Services Act 2019,” said Yong.

“The Police have also issued a press release on 7 August 2024 to advise members of the public against giving away or selling their Worldcoin accounts, which may then be misused for criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing. The Worldcoin accounts and tokens sold illegally can be misused for criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing”.

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Singapore Began Crackdown On Unregulated Sales Of Worldcoin Accounts Back In August

The Singapore police advised the general public from “giving away or selling their Worldcoin accounts.” In a previous parliament meeting on August 7, Gan Kim Yong spoke on Worldcoin’s collection of personal data.

“Consumers should beware of inducements to transfer access of their digital payment token wallet or World ID as third parties could misuse these accounts. We caution consumers against doing so,” explained Yong.

He said that organizations that handle sensitive personal information, including biometric data, must adhere to Singapore’s data protection and security arrangements to deter related criminal activities.

Worldcoin Already Under Scrutiny Due To Its Questionable Biometric Data Collection Practices

2/6 Most alarming to me is how the WorldCoin team has boasted about how many users they have.

When in reality they have been exploiting people in developing countries.https://t.co/8pc84CQyVc pic.twitter.com/b9smMB4yqa

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 24, 2023

Many regulators worldwide have scrutinized Worldcoin’s iris biometric data collection system since its inception. Over the past 18 months, regulators across India, South Korea, Germany, Kenya, and Brazil suspended the project iris collections and launched investigations into the company’s data collection practices.

Additionally, European regulators cited potential violations of GDPR standards. On March 18, Spain became the first country to ban Worldcoin’s biometric data collection. Despite the hurdles, Worldcoin maintained an aggressive expansion, eventually amassing more than 10 million users as of April 16.

As per Coingecko, Worldcoin’s native token (WLD), is trading for $1.45 with a circulating market cap of $620 million. However, its fully diluted valuation (FDV) market cap is over $14.5 billion.

(COINGECKO)

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Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.