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2 years ago

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Worldcoin, an ambitious but also controversial cryptocurrency project, has been making headlines since its launch last month. The project collects people’s biometric data by scanning their eyeballs via a metallic orb. Its goal is to create a proof-of-personhood system that allows it to distinguish robots from humans in the budding era of AI. 

But the project has raised numerous concerns among regulators and privacy advocates around the world due to an alleged lack of transparency regarding the methods the organization is using to collect people’s data.

A single company gathering millions of people data can potentially create a data privacy threat.

Moreover, some investigative reporters shed light on unethical and deceptive methods used by the organization to collect people’s data in the Global South. In particular, the organization has been giving out its native token, WLD, as an incentive to sign up, allegedly using “deceptive marketing techniques”. 

Currently, the token has no real use case and it is largely a speculative instrument on the future success of the Worldcoin project. 

In our latest Cointelegraph report, we broke down how Worldocin works and tried to figure out how grounded are the concerns around it.

Watch our full report on Cointelegraph YouTube channel and don’f forget to subscribe!

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OCC boss says ‘no justification’ to judge banks and crypto differently

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7 hours ago

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December 9, 2025

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OCC boss says ‘no justification’ to judge banks and crypto differently

Crypto companies seeking a US federal bank charter should be treated no differently than other financial institutions, says Jonathan Gould, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Gould told a blockchain conference on Monday that some new charter applicants in the digital or fintech spaces could be seen as offering novel activities for a national trust bank, but noted “custody and safekeeping services have been happening electronically for decades.”

“There is simply no justification for considering digital assets differently,” he added. “Additionally, it is important that we do not confine banks, including current national trust banks, to the technologies or businesses of the past.”

The OCC regulates national banks and has previously seen crypto companies as a risk to the banking system. Only two crypto banks are OCC-licensed: Anchorage Digital, which has held a charter since 2021, and Erebor, which got a preliminary banking charter in October.

Crypto “should have” a way to supervision

Gould said that the banking system has the “capacity to evolve from the telegraph to the blockchain.”

He added that the OCC had received 14 applications to start a new bank so far this year, “including some from entities engaged in novel or digital asset activities,” which was nearly equal to the number of similar applications that the OCC received over the last four years.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould giving remarks at the 2025 Blockchain Association Policy Summit. Source: YouTube

“Chartering helps ensure that the banking system continues to keep pace with the evolution of finance and supports our modern economy,” he added. “That is why entities that engage in activities involving digital assets and other novel technologies should have a pathway to become federally supervised banks.”

Gould brushes off banks’ concerns

Gould noted that banks and financial trade groups had raised concerns about crypto companies getting banking charters and the OCC’s ability to oversee them.

Related: Argentina weighs letting traditional banks trade crypto: Report

“Such concerns risk reversing innovations that would better serve bank customers and support local economies,” he said. “The OCC has also had years of experience supervising a crypto-native national trust bank.”