WorldCoin has been fined again! Crypto Store Clerk Runs Off With $500,000 in Cash: Asia Express

World Coin fined $850,000 in South Korea

The Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity have been criticized by South Korean authorities for illegally collecting and transmitting biometric information.

The Personal Information Protection Commission announced on September 26 that it had imposed a fine of 1.1 billion won ($850,000) on Worldcoin and its contributor Tools for Humanity.

The country’s privacy watchdog said it began investigating Worldcoin earlier after complaints and local media reports about the project collecting biometric data in exchange for cryptocurrency without proper consent or legal basis.

As a result of the investigation, the World Coin Foundation and Tools for Humanity, which manage the World App cryptocurrency wallet, violated Korean law by illegally collecting iris data from approximately 30,000 Korean users without proper consent or legal basis. It turns out that it is.

Additionally, Worldcoin transferred this biometric data overseas without informing users of the recipient country or contact information, in compliance with local regulations. WorldCoin Foundation also failed to provide clear notice of the purpose of the data, retention period and other required details, the committee said. The consent form was initially only available in English, limiting local users’ understanding until the Korean version was released in March.

World Coin argued that the iris code data was used only to prevent duplicate registration and could not identify individuals, suggesting it was anonymous. However, the Commission rejected this argument, emphasizing that iris code data is inherently unique, immutable, and directly linked to individuals.

Worldcoin’s controversial iris scanning has drawn the attention of regulators including India, Hong Kong and Germany.

Singapore said it had launched an investigation into individuals suspected of providing buying and selling services related to Worldcoin, but Tools for Humanity told Cointelegraph in a previous interview that these suspects were not connected to Worldcoin in any way.

Global regulatory scrutiny won’t stop Worldcoin from expanding. On September 25, WorldCoin announced that it would begin verifying Orb in Guatemala, Malaysia, and Poland.

The Malaysian government is one of the rare adopters of iris scanning technology.

Last August, the government’s research arm signed a memorandum of understanding with the Worldcoin Foundation to integrate the technology into the country’s digital infrastructure.

Cryptocurrency exchange clerk disappears with $500,000

Hong Kong police reportedly arrested two men involved in the theft of 4 million Hong Kong dollars (about 500,000 dollars) from a cryptocurrency exchange in the Sham Shui Po area.

According to local media, on the afternoon of September 23rd, a 43-year-old man entered an actual cryptocurrency exchange located in a shopping mall with cash. The victim handed cash to a female store employee and then entered a room inside the store.

The clerk did not return and the man found himself trapped inside the store.

Police later arrested two men, aged 23 and 30. The suspects, along with a female clerk and other individuals, were allegedly involved in setting up a cryptocurrency exchange to steal cash from customers during transactions.

The victim had previously completed two successful transactions of approximately 400,000 Hong Kong dollars ($51,400) and 800,000 Hong Kong dollars ($102,800) in early September, which built trust in the store and increased the investment amount to 4 million Hong Kong dollars. increased it

According to the police, there were 12 cases this year where victims visited stores to exchange cash for cryptocurrency. The total loss from these 12 cases amounted to HK$10.8 million ($1.4 million).

Japan bans DMM Bitcoin reopening Until risk measures are implemented

Japanese authorities issued a business improvement order against cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin following a major security breach that resulted in the theft of 4,502.9 BTC (worth $305 million at the time).

Through administrative action on September 26, the Kanto Regional Finance Bureau requested the company to strengthen system risk management, implement future leak prevention measures, and clarify management responsibility. The exchange must submit a detailed improvement plan by October 28, and suspended services cannot be resumed until it complies with it.

Regulators discovered flaws in DMM Bitcoin’s risk management and internal controls in May, which allowed hackers to siphon off customer funds.

The investigation found that the exchange operated without a system risk manager, resulting in dangerously lax security protocols. Private keys were not properly managed and lack of proper supervision by staff created vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers.

Moreover, DMM Bitcoin’s failure to implement an appropriate log retention system hindered efforts to quickly investigate the breach.

The DMM Bitcoin security breach that occurred on May 31st was recorded as the largest hack of 2024 to date. It is widely known that the North Korean state hacking group Lazarus is behind the cyberattack on a Japanese exchange.

Lazarus has since been accused of attacking other Asian exchanges, including WazirX and Indodax.

Last week, Singapore-based BingX became the latest major exchange to be attacked. The hackers behind the BingX attack have not yet been publicly identified.

But on September 26, BingX said it had “determined that the same group behind other similar attacks in the industry was behind this incident.”

Users protest Terraform Labs’ planned closure.

Terra blockchain users have raised concerns that they will lose their tokens if Terraform Labs eventually shuts down the service.

One If you can’t transfer this to the community, let people unstake all their tokens, even those that aren’t fully vested yet,” he complained.

Terraform Labs is preparing to shut down several of its products and services by October 30th unless an external party steps in to keep them running.

In a September 25 post, X announced that it was still in discussions with third parties to sell some of its products and services.

If these efforts are not successful by the October 30 deadline, key products, including the Station Wallet, will be discontinued and users may cease activity until then.

Singapore-based Terraform Labs lost its peg to the dollar in May 2022, resulting in the collapse of the $40 billion Terra-Luna ecosystem and a contagion effect that led to the liquidation and bankruptcies of several cryptocurrency companies, including: This is the company behind Blockcoin. Three Arrows Capital and FTX.

Last June, Terraform Labs announced it would cease operations following a $4.47 billion settlement with the SEC.

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Yoon Yohan

Yohan Yoon is a multimedia journalist covering blockchain since 2017. He has contributed as an editor to Forkast, a cryptocurrency media outlet, and has covered Asian technology stories as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking and experimenting with new recipes.