Is the Worldcoin Orb a scam? A Famous Hacker Weighs In!

This post was originally published in [2022] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools.

When Sam Altman launched his iris-scanning project, the world asked: Is the Worldcoin Orb a scam? A famous hacker weighs in on the actual code behind the Orb to find out.

While the project promises a “Proof of Personhood,” security experts have raised red flags about the permanent nature of biometric data.

Universal Basic Income is a noble goal that Worldcoin attempts to tackle. With eye scans, red flags, crazy stuff, and a competent leader, this project has caught my eye.

It’s too early to tell if Worldcoin is Legit or a scam, but it can be with time!

Keep reading, and I’ll share how the orbs work, how Worldcoin crypto works, 4 concerns I have with this project, 1 reason this could be a serious project, and a concern a great hacker has.

From Worldcoin to World Network: The 2026 Pivot to AI-Proof Identity

In 2022, this brand was about a universal basic income. Now in 2026, the project has shifted to separate humans from AI bots.

It's not about a coin; it's more about the network.

The whole orb thingy has been redesigned with a 5x faster chip and is more economical to produce.

Worldcoin also has its own home called Worldchain. Humans get free transactions, and bots have to pay more money.

Go humans!

I guess there were some issues of 1 place having control over your IRIS (your eyeball).

In 2026, the project made it so your IRIS code gets split between a few parties, so not 1 person controls everything.

Plus, they added a phone feature to use your World ID instead of going to an orb.

In 2022, it was tested in India and Kenya. In 2026, some places in the world have a ban on it, and some don't.

Parts of the EU don't want any part of Worldcoin, and other countries too.

The good news is that there are rumors that some platforms, like WhatsApp and Facetime are looking into the project to eliminate bots.

Is World ID Necessary? Why Proof of Personhood is the 2026 "Passport" for the Internet

A new, collectively owned global currency that will be distributed fairly to as many people as possible.

The goal of Worldcoin is to use cryptocurrency technology to give crypto to as many "real" people as possible.

In Academia (schools), some people feel it's a great idea to give an equal amount of money to "every" person. You could say this is a universal basic income.

It sounds much easier than it is because of fraud, abuse, scams, bots, and beautiful girls taking the money (at least a beautiful girl takes my money :).

Universal basic income, or UBI, needs a way to identify people and an easy way to pay them. This sounds easier than it is, and the good news is that Worldcoin does have a good leader, Sam Alman.

Sam was the former president of Y combinator that launched over 3,000 companies (sounds like he should be on Shark Tank). Some of these companies include Reddit and Twitch.

Sam Alman is the current CEO of OpenAI, working with Elon Musk to ensure artificial intelligence doesn't turn into Terminators that kill all humans. At least this is one of the goals.

If Elon Musk (the man) is willing to work with him, that is a credibility boost, right? Seriously, how does anyone not like Elon Musk? He built 5 companies, creating shit tons of jobs! He even risked ALL of his money with rockets, which takes some serious courage!

Ok, I wrote this article before Elon went all political!

The team behind Worldcoin has the idea to use cryptocurrency to give an equal amount of this currency to everyone. They want to be fair about this.

How do you think they would do this?

I'll give you a hint: think of a fingerprint. To get your free cryptocurrency, all you have to do is get your eye scanned. There might be some brainwashing messages in the scan, but you get some free cryptocurrency.

Ok, I'm joking about the brainwashing messages (hopefully), but would you get your eyes scanned for free cryptocurrency? Half of me says yes, and half of me says no.

To scan this eye, the company will be using something known as orbs.

The use of orbs to scan eyes is the identity system to ensure 1 person can't claim a shitload of Worldcoin. The orb does scan the IRIS of the eye, and no 2 IRIS's are alike.

The IRIS is the colored area of the eye.

Oh, and in case you're wondering Worldcoin does run on Ethereum and is an ERC20 token. ERC20 means Ethereum Request for Comment, and I'm not sure what the 20 means.

I have a love/hate relationship with Ethereum. The hate comes from the gas prices.

The Orb 2.0: Inside the 2026 Hardware Upgrades and Data Deletion Protocols

The Orb is a camera that captures an image of someone's eyes.

First, you show the orb a QR code from your phone. Next, you would look into the orb as it scans your eyes. The orb then creates a hash with your QR code and your eye. A hash is a bunch of text, like a code.

This hash is sent to a node.

This node checks to see if the hash has been registered before. If the unique hash has not been registered before, then it's connected to the user's crypto wallet.

Finally, Worldcoin is sent to the user's wallet.

Oh, and the amount of Worldcoin being distributed will decrease as time goes on to incentivize people to take advantage of the opportunity. Yes, it's FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which crypto seems to use a lot of.

The orbs are made in Germany (Not China), and this is good because can anyone truly trust China with getting their eyes scanned? Fuck NO!

You might be wondering how many people are actually going to stare into the orb, right? The incentive of FREE crypto is one incentive, but there is more.

Worldcoin has a network of orb operators who are given Worldcoin tokens for every person that they can persuade to stare into the orb.

Becoming an orb operator can also be very competitive since there is a bidding process to be selected.

Closing to Is the Worldcoin Orb a scam?

I'm very skeptical of this project because many people who receive their Worldcoin will probably sell it. What is the incentive to keep it?

The team behind this project is aware of this and is making it so users can't immediately sell their Worldcoin. This brings up another concern that you can't trade your Worldcoin as soon as you get it.

I'm also VERY skeptical of people willing to gaze into an orb. Some people may have concerns that the orb is collecting private information.

A third concern is that orb operators are paid when someone lets their eyes be scanned, and there are MANY opportunities for abuse.

Heck, these orb operators could go to homeless people on the street and offer them a cigarette for an eye scan and steal all the Worldcoin.

A fourth concern is that the data these orbs are collecting can be VERY valuable to certain parties (privacy concerns). Also, a famous hacker named Edward Snowden has some major concerns with the project.

He believes you can replace their biometric device (a way to identify someone) with a random hash generator (a hash is a set of numbers or letters like a code).

If it works, the currency is not fairly distributed, but anyone sending valid hashes is issued money (you can hack the system).

If it doesn't work, there is some secret or central check that is performed, and the currency is not open source.

Bitcoin is open-source, and this means not 1 person controls it, but the community (it's the common folk's money).

Edward Snowden makes the case that proof of work is still the most secure way to go. You can check out my blog post HERE on exactly how proof of work is different from staking and the pros and cons of both.

Universal basic income is a noble cause; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that printing and giving out too much money has caused a lot of harm.

Just look at inflation and the harm that it caused.

We live in some crazy times, and I'm a big believer in the book Antifragile. Basically, it's not a good idea to just count on 1 income source, like the government or a job, because things change.

You will be "antifragile" if you have a few sources of income, so if one disappears, you're not stressing out!

One way to diversify is with a side hustle.

Affiliate marketing is not a bad idea because you can do it anywhere, anytime, around your schedule, with very little start-up cost, in nearly any niche, and it can be a lot of fun.

I've been doing it for 15 years, and I'm giving away my system for FREE HERE.

I hope this blog post on whether Worldcoin is legit was helpful to you. Bye for now.