#privacy

Ethereum co-founder has raised four primary concerns of Worldcoin: privacy, accessibility, centralization, and security. While Worldcoin's Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) system is designed to authenticate unique users without revealing personal data, Buterin warns that any data leak could lead to misuse of identity information. He also points out that accessibility is an issue, as participation requires physical access to a device called "Orb," potentially limiting the project's reach. Lastly, he mentions security risks such as phone hacking and coercion to scan irises. Despite these concerns, Buterin does see the value in the concept of Worldcoin, and suggests a combination of social-graph-based, general-hardware biometric, and specialized-hardware biometric techniques as a potential solution.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on its own GenAI model, codenamed Ajax. The chatbot leverages Google's framework and runs on Google Cloud, with a primary focus on maintaining user privacy and confidentiality. For now, Ajax will be used for in-house purposes like creating product prototypes and analyzing data. However, it might become available to the public in the future.

Yesterday, an investor filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court, accusing Coinbase's board members, including Chairman and CEO Brian Armstrong, of selling $2.9 billion in stock during the company's public listing two years ago. The lawsuit claims that the board later revealed "material, negative information" that severely impacted market optimism. In a separate legal issue, another lawsuit was filed in San Francisco on the same day, alleging that Coinbase violated Illinois' biometric privacy law. The complaint asserts that the company collected customer data without obtaining proper consent beforehand. As Coinbase faces these dual legal challenges, it seems the company is in for a tumultuous ride. It remains to be seen whether these lawsuits are simply part of a fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) storm brewing on the horizon, or if they represent more substantial concerns for the cryptocurrency giant.

Ameen Soleimani, one of the first contributors to the scandalous Tornado Cash crypto mixer, has announced the launch of a new mixing service called Primacy Pools, which is based on the TC code. Now, every hacker and criminal will have a chance to demonstrate that they are not engaging in any malicious activity (but not for sure). What is clear is that honest users will be able to prove that they have not committed fraud and are therefore legitimately using the privacy-enhancing service. Predictably, the new service uses zero-knowledge proof, which is the main trend of 2023. It is a protocol that confirms information without disclosing it. Your move, SEC!