Thailand Orders World to Delete 1.2M Iris Scans, Halts Worldcoin Verifications
Thai authorities have ordered World (formerly Worldcoin) to suspend operations in Thailand and delete roughly 1.2 million local iris scans, citing violations of the Personal Data Protection Act and potential breaches of digital-asset rules tied to the WLD token. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) issued the directive after a police raid on an iris-scanning site in October. World Thailand (represented by TIDC Worldverse) says it has paused local verifications, removed Thailand from its Orb availability list, and is cooperating with regulators while denying wrongdoing. World maintains that iris images are anonymized and not stored on the Orb device. The dispute adds to wider regulatory scrutiny of World’s biometric practices in markets including Indonesia, Germany, Kenya and Brazil. Market reaction has been negative for World’s native token WLD, which fell about 6% in the past week and is down more than 70% year‑to‑date (trading near $0.63 at the time of reporting). For traders: this raises regulatory risk around WLD, increases potential for short-term volatility, and could pressure liquidity as enforcement actions and negative publicity weigh on demand for the token.
Bearish
This directive is directly negative for WLD. Ordering deletion of 1.2M iris scans and pausing verifications signals significant regulatory escalation against World’s core onboarding process. Immediate effects: heightened sell pressure and short-term volatility for WLD as investors reprice legal and operational risk; market makers may widen spreads or reduce exposure, lowering liquidity. Medium-to-long term: prolonged regulatory probes or enforcement in multiple jurisdictions could constrain World’s user growth and token utility, keeping downward pressure on demand and price. While World’s denial of wrongdoing and claims about data handling may temper panic, precedent of cross-border scrutiny makes investor confidence fragile. Overall, the news increases regulatory tail risk for WLD, making a bearish outlook on price impact appropriate.