Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is pulling back from Europe and prioritizing its expansion into Asia and Latin America. With regulatory roadblocks in Europe, the company is making a bold pivot to regions like Malaysia and Japan, seeking rapid adoption of its digital ID platform.

Worldcoin Shifts Focus from Europe to Asia

An executive has told us that Worldcoin, the digital identification initiative that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman helped start, is moving its attention away from Europe and toward Asia and other areas.

According to Fabian Bodensteiner, a founding team member and managing director of Worldcoin Europe, the company is targeting areas with governments that are more receptive to new technology.

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Sees Bigger Opportunities in Asia and Latin America

Bodensteiner allegedly said that Worldcoin does not place a big emphasis on European markets when speaking at the Sifted Summit, an event supported by the Financial Times that focuses on European companies. His words were:

“We just see a larger dynamic in other regions of the world and because we’re not 1,000 employees we need to prioritize where we see the biggest business opportunities.”

When it comes to the adoption of technology, Bodensteiner claims that Latin American jurisdictions, like Argentina, and countries in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area, like Japan and Malaysia, are more promising.

Major APAC Game Companies Join Forces with Worldcoin

Several well-known APAC game companies are collaborating with Worldcoin to incorporate Worldcoin's technology into their platforms, he said.

In late September, Bodensteiner stated, "As we enter a market like Malaysia, the goal is not only to make it accessible to consumers.” One of Worldcoin's goals in the country is to introduce its "digital passport"—World ID—to local companies and explain how they may incorporate it into their operations.

Worldcoin’s Expansion in Malaysia and Partnerships with Local Platforms

Mimos, Malaysia's national applied research and development center, and MyEG Services, an app for e-government services, are among the local platforms with which Worldcoin is partnering, he said.

Worldcoin is still running its European operations, despite moving its attention to other regions; the project has encountered difficulties.

European Regulatory Hurdles Hamper Worldcoin’s Progress

According to Cointelegraph, Altman co-founded Tools for Humanity, which invented iris biometrics, and launched their for-profit cryptocurrency project Worldcoin in July 2023.

Concerns about the acquisition of biometric data prompted an investigation of Worldcoin in July 2023 by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA), a German data protection body. Rumor has it that Worldcoin's European activities will be the subject of a regulatory decision from the BayLDA later in October.

Because of security concerns, Worldcoin was momentarily shuttered in 2024 in other European nations such as Portugal and Spain.

Worldcoin’s Continued Engagement with European Regulators

Regardless, Worldcoin began World ID verifications in Austria in July and successfully opened operations in Poland in September.

According to Bodensteiner, despite Worldcoin's setbacks in Europe, the company is still dedicated to continuing its dialogue with European regulators.

"We want to make it work here; we don’t just want to leave Europe and dodge things," he stated.