The project launched on Monday, with eyeball scans taking place in countries including Britain, Japan and India. Applicants lined up to have their irises scanned by the device, before waiting for the 25 free Worldcoin tokens the company says verified users can claim. Worldcoin's data-collection is a "potential privacy nightmare," said the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a U.S. privacy campaigner. Worldcoin tokens were trading around $2.30 on the world's largest exchange, Binance, on Tuesday. For many users, the promise of financial gains from the crypto coins was enough to make them hand over personal data.

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Persons: Sam Altman, Saeki Sasaki, Worldcoin, Ali, Madeleine Stone, Sujith, Elizabeth Howcroft, Medha, Mark Potter Organizations: Reuters, Privacy, Big Brother Watch, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, BENGALURU, Britain, Japan, India, Tokyo, U.S, London, Bengaluru, Medha Singh, Anton