Thread by @worldcoin

After 3 years of R&D and extensive real-world usage (onboarding +1M unique humans), we're excited to finally open up the hardware powering the Orb!

Along with the engineering files, we're also sharing an in-depth explanation on how the Orb works.

worldcoin.org/blog/worldcoin…

Worldcoin started as a way to explore the concept of how widely-distributed digital currency could impact the world.

Along the way, we discovered sybil-resistance was the biggest issue in our way, with no existing solution being private, inclusive and scalable.

We needed a solution that could differentiate between billions of humans, that didn't exclude humans without IDs or other forms of identification (usually those who need change the most), and that didn't require us to store any private data.

So we built the Orb 🪩

Here's how the system works:

1. The Orb conducts a series of checks to make sure you're not trying to trick it.

2. The Orb captures pictures of your iris.

3. The Orb uses machine learning to convert the images into an IrisCode, which represents the randomness in your iris.

Thanks to IrisCodes, we can detect if someone tries to sign up more than once without having to store any private data.

4. The Orb signs the IrisCode and adds to the list of "unique humans" along with a World ID public key, generated by the user's phone.

The system is designed to be fully private:

- Unless users explicitly and clearly consent to data custody, images never leave the orb and are deleted as soon as the IrisCode generation finishes.

- There's no link between IrisCode and the wallet belonging to the user

We believe Worldcoin should be fully open-source and fully decentralized.

Open-sourcing the World ID protocol a few months ago was the first step in this journey. Today, we take the second with a major part of our stack, and many others will follow soon.

If you're still curious about how all the hardware in the Orb comes together, make sure to check out the full write-up, video walkthrough, and engineering files repo here:

worldcoin.org/blog/engineeri…

You can also learn more about how World ID (our Privacy-Preserving Proof of Personhood Protocol) works, our commitment to privacy, and what's next for us on the Worldcoin Blog.

See you there! 👇

worldcoin.org/blog