---
title: Proof of personhood
url: https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/proof-of-personhood/
lang: en
published: 2026-10-13
version: 1
summary: How to prove to a website that you are a living human with only one account, without revealing who you are. From “pseudonym parties” to iris scans and credentials for AI agents.
cite_as: "future.log, «Proof of personhood», https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/proof-of-personhood/"
license: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Proof of personhood

**Proof of personhood** is a way to confirm to a website that a living human is behind an account and that this human has only one account, ideally without saying who they are. It protects against a “Sybil attack”, in which one participant poses as many: inflating votes, collecting giveaways several times over, running armies of bots.

The term appeared in 2017 in a paper by Bryan Ford's group at EPFL.[^1] The largest project is World (Worldcoin until 10.2024), founded by Sam Altman: a special device, the Orb, scans the iris of the eye; according to the company, more than 18 million people have been verified this way.[^2] With the arrival of generative AI and [AI agents](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/autonomous-ai-agents/), the problem has moved beyond the crypto community: CAPTCHA no longer tells humans from machines, and websites need a different signal.

## History

- **01.10.1950** Alan Turing replaces the question “Can machines think?” with the “imitation game”: a machine has to pass itself off as a human in written conversation.[^3] <!-- ¶ ccvqhw9q7 -->
- **2000** Luis von Ahn and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University invent [CAPTCHA](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/death-of-captcha/), the “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”.[^4][^5] <!-- ¶ cu5ug5j2c -->
- **2002** John Douceur of Microsoft Research describes the “Sybil attack” and proves that without a central authority vouching for identities, there is no defence against it.[^6] <!-- ¶ cn8kxp88j -->
- **01.04.2008** Bryan Ford and Jacob Strauss (MIT) propose “pseudonym parties”: people gather in one place at the same time and each receives one anonymous credential, so that “one real person gets one virtual persona”.[^7] <!-- ¶ c75h4qypc -->
- **29.04.2017** Ford's group coins the term *proof-of-personhood*: a mechanism that “binds physical entities to virtual identities” while preserving anonymity.[^1] <!-- ¶ c3a2ijgwe -->
- **21.10.2021** Worldcoin, from Sam Altman and Alex Blania, comes out of stealth with $25 million in funding and a promise to hand out tokens for iris scans.[^8] <!-- ¶ cn5cymgdm -->
- **24.07.2023** Worldcoin launches globally: about 2 million people got a World ID during the beta.[^9] <!-- ¶ c3umipnf5 -->
- **15.08.2024** 32 researchers from [OpenAI](https://ftrlg.com/en/models/openai/), Microsoft, MIT, Harvard and Oxford propose “personhood credentials”: CAPTCHA, they write, is powerless against sophisticated AI, while checking a passport reveals too much about a person.[^10] <!-- ¶ chypg5htt -->
- **17.10.2024** Worldcoin becomes World and learns to verify a human not only with the Orb but also with a passport chip.[^11][^12] <!-- ¶ c7pn58tc2 -->
- **30.04.2025** World launches in the US; partners include Visa, Tinder and Stripe.[^13][^14] <!-- ¶ cc58j93ew -->
- **17.03.2026** World and Coinbase release AgentKit: a person delegates their World ID to an AI agent, and a website sees that one unique human stands behind the agent.[^15] <!-- ¶ cgjn2vkjr -->
- **25.03.2026** Reddit starts verifying accounts that look like bots, via passkey, Face ID or World ID. In the words of CEO Steve Huffman: “Our aim is to confirm there is a person behind the account, not who that person is.”[^16] <!-- ¶ cgwzu97ih -->

## How it works

The system has to be sure of two things: it is facing a human, and that human is not registered yet. Approaches differ in what they trust.

**Phone number.** The most widespread check is a code by SMS. In 157 countries a SIM card is sold only with the owner's registration,[^17] so a number seems tied to a person. But an SMS proves only access to the number: services sell verification codes for mass account sign-ups, and one of them, according to Trend Micro, ran on a botnet of thousands of infected Android phones.[^18] On top of that, a number makes it easy to link all of a person's accounts to each other and to their passport. <!-- ¶ c8kr328th -->

**In-person meeting and simultaneous test.** A person cannot be in two places at once; that is the idea behind “pseudonym parties”.[^7] Idena takes it online: all participants solve picture puzzles in the very same minute.[^19] <!-- ¶ cba6y7mp3 -->

**Social graph.** In BrightID, people vouch for each other, and the system analyses the resulting graph of acquaintances without storing personal data.[^20] Proof of Humanity adds a video, a deposit and a voucher; anyone can challenge a profile, and disputes are settled by jurors.[^21] <!-- ¶ cyy6w7j7q -->

**Biometrics.** The Orb turns the iris into an “iris code” and checks whether the database already has one like it. The code is split into parts held by several independent parties, mostly universities, so nobody sees it whole.[^22] To a website, the user presents a zero-knowledge proof: the site learns “this is a unique human” but not which one, and cannot link them to other sites.[^23] <!-- ¶ cgqepmunq -->

**Passport and zero knowledge.** The phone reads the passport chip and proves a single attribute, such as “over 18”, “citizen of country X” or “this passport has not been used here before”, without showing the rest. This is how Self, ZKPassport and the passport version of World ID work;[^24][^25][^12] the European Commission is building its age verification app on the same principle.[^26] <!-- ¶ cqqtb3765 -->

**Aggregators.** Human Passport (Gitcoin Passport until 2025) collects “stamps” from different sources and computes a score from them; grant funds use it to check that a human is voting.[^27][^28] <!-- ¶ cwegwiw9p -->

The ideal all these approaches aim for is set out in the paper on personhood credentials: one credential per person, and on each site a separate pseudonym that cannot be linked either to other sites or to whoever issued the credential.[^10] <!-- ¶ chw2wvxwp -->

## Data

| Who and when | What was studied | What was found |
|---|---|---|
| World, 30.04.2025[^13] | Verified humans; company data | **12 million** verified with the Orb <!-- ¶ cip46qaqq --> |
| World, 30.12.2025[^29] | Same | “nearly **18 million**”; the same figure appears in announcements from 03.2026 and 04.2026 <!-- ¶ ca5ikt3hj --> |
| The Block, 24.07.2026[^2] | Same | **more than 18 million** verified with the Orb, ~39 million signed up <!-- ¶ cadumaqvr --> |
| Holonym, 10.02.2025[^28] | Gitcoin Passport users | **2.1 million** <!-- ¶ c8r5dw3in --> |
| World Bank, 30.10.2025[^30] | People without ID | more than **800 million** people cannot prove their identity <!-- ¶ cnxfn2c4a --> |
| ETH Zurich, 13.09.2024[^31] | Image reCAPTCHA v2 solved by a model | **100%** of CAPTCHAs solved <!-- ¶ c9pcxcykq --> |

> **[EDITORS' CONCLUSION]** The old check broke faster than the new one grew. A bot solves CAPTCHA 100% of the time (ETH Zurich), while the largest proof-of-personhood system has reached about 18 million people in three years, roughly 0.2% of the world's population, and since late 2025 its counter has barely moved (World). Passport checks cover more people, but not the 800 million who have no documents (World Bank). Caveat: almost all reach figures come from the companies themselves. <!-- ¶ c6mb9gmp8 -->

## Bans and court rulings

Most of the complaints against World concern collecting biometrics in exchange for tokens.

| Country | Authority, date | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | Ministry of Interior, 02.08.2023[^32] | operations suspended; three days later police seized devices at an office in Nairobi[^33] <!-- ¶ c633vnken --> |
| Spain | AEPD, 06.03.2024[^34] | data collection banned for up to three months <!-- ¶ cdh2tm5cg --> |
| Portugal | CNPD, 26.03.2024[^35] ⧗ | collection suspended for 90 days: minors had been scanned <!-- ¶ cpgxxyjym --> |
| Hong Kong | PCPD, 22.05.2024[^36] ⧗ | order to stop scanning <!-- ¶ cfm6wfejq --> |
| Germany | BayLDA, 19.12.2024[^37] | ensure data deletion under GDPR; the company is appealing <!-- ¶ cjp9f4vns --> |
| Brazil | ANPD, 24.01.2025[^38] ⧗ | paying for iris scans banned <!-- ¶ ci9cwc72q --> |
| Kenya | High Court, 05.2025[^39] | delete Kenyans' biometrics within 7 days <!-- ¶ c8bg3z4pj --> |
| Indonesia | Komdigi, 04.05.2025[^40] ⧗ | operations frozen <!-- ¶ c7k46uke3 --> |
| Colombia | SIC, 03.10.2025[^41] | permanent shutdown and deletion of data of about 2 million people <!-- ¶ cfsnb3nj6 --> |
| Philippines | NPC, 10.2025[^42] | cease operations, remove the app from app stores <!-- ¶ cpz4uahim --> |
| Thailand | PDPC, 11.2025[^43] | delete more than 1.2 million records <!-- ¶ ctpinvsrk --> |

## Incidents

### Worldcoin: how the first users were recruited, April 2022 <!-- ¶ cbxfcdxx4 -->

MIT Technology Review found out how Worldcoin recruited its first 450,000 people in 24 countries. People were lured to scans with cash, AirPods and the promise of tokens, without being told they were taking part in testing; in Indonesia, local officials were paid to help with recruitment. Alex Blania promised at the time: “We will let privacy experts take our systems apart, over and over, before we actually deploy them on a large scale”.[^44]

### Stolen Orb operator passwords, May 2023 <!-- ¶ ce4e49fcn -->

Malware stole the passwords of Orb operators, the local contractors who scan people, and they were put up for sale on the dark web. The operator dashboard had no two-factor authentication. Worldcoin reset all passwords and said the attackers had not reached user data.[^45]

### World ID black market, May 2023 <!-- ¶ cahf8xmmb -->

Buyers in China, where Worldcoin did not operate, paid $20–30 for the World IDs of people scanned in Cambodia and Africa. The company called it “a few hundred instances” and made transfers harder, but admitted that if seller and buyer have struck a deal, there is no way to stop them.[^46]

## Criticism

Two days after Worldcoin was announced, Edward Snowden wrote that the project keeps iris hashes that will match *future* scans: “Don't catalogue eyeballs.” He added: “The human body is not a ticket-punch.”[^47] <!-- ¶ cw8wzdmhz -->

In 2023 Vitalik Buterin named four risks of biometrics: a scan can reveal whether a person has a World ID; you have to get to an Orb; there is no way to check that the device has no backdoor for creating fake identities; people can be coerced into being scanned. His conclusion: “There is no ideal form of proof of personhood”, but a world without it at all would be left to centralised identity systems and money.[^48] <!-- ¶ c4figtgx5 -->

Cryptographer Matthew Green found fewer technical problems in Worldcoin than he expected, but named the database itself as the main risk: its existence “could potentially create incentives that force the company to put this data to more dangerous use”.[^49] <!-- ¶ c5nprfadb -->

The authors of the personhood credentials paper warn about it themselves: if a credential can be secretly lent out, “authentication farms” for bots will appear, and people without credentials will be cut off from services.[^10] <!-- ¶ cj8npeguq -->

In 2025 Buterin added that the rule “one credential per person” kills anonymity: in real life, pseudonymity usually requires several accounts. He proposes a system with no single issuer, where you can create N identities, but the cost grows as N².[^50] <!-- ¶ cygu3esri -->

## In culture

In Philip K. Dick's novel *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* (1968), androids cannot be told apart from humans either by looks or by intelligence. Only their lack of empathy gives them away, and that is what the Voigt-Kampff test catches: the device tracks involuntary reactions to emotionally charged questions.[^51] <!-- ¶ c36x82k7c -->

In the film *Blade Runner* (1982), Deckard tests Rachael by watching her pupils. Twenty or thirty questions are usually enough; she needs about a hundred: Rachael is a replicant but believes she is human.[^52] <!-- ¶ c7iar88nu -->

> **[EDITORS' CONCLUSION]** The Turing test and CAPTCHA check what a person can do, the Voigt-Kampff test checks what they feel; all of these test behaviour, and a smart enough machine will sooner or later pass. Proof of personhood checks not behaviour but a credential: a document, acquaintances or the body. Yet World has kept the image from the film: a device that looks a person in the eye and decides whether they are human. <!-- ¶ ct2n2hqxc -->

## Outlook

The main new customers are AI agents. A payment does not show how many people stand behind a swarm of agents: one person can launch thousands.[^15] So World promotes “human-backed agents” under the rule “one human, one agent, one allocation”; Okta and Vercel have signed on.[^53][^54] In October 2026 World puts it bluntly: “Agents that cannot answer [who is behind them] are likely to be blocked”.[^55] <!-- ¶ cheb4ikj7 -->

Ordinary services are starting to check personhood too: Zoom, Docusign and Tinder have integrated World ID,[^56] and OpenAI, according to Forbes, is discussing a “humans only” social network (the company has not confirmed this).[^57] There is also the opposite route, labelling bots instead of humans: from 02.08.2026 the EU AI Act requires that people know they are talking to an AI,[^58] and Reddit puts a label on approved bots.[^16] <!-- ¶ c3zkmyesq -->

> **[EDITORS' CONCLUSION]** The question has shifted from “are you human?” to “which human is behind this agent?”. AI passes CAPTCHA, so websites are moving from checking behaviour to checking credentials, and agents “borrow” a credential from a human. Hence the risk Buterin and the personhood credentials authors warned about: whoever issues credentials becomes the gatekeeper of the internet. For now reach is small, and it is unclear whether proof of personhood will become a mandatory gateway to the web or remain a niche. <!-- ¶ cmm8n6v54 -->

## See also

[Dead internet theory](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/dead-internet-theory/) · [Autonomous AI agents](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/autonomous-ai-agents/) · [Death of CAPTCHA](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/death-of-captcha/) · Privacy Pass and PACT · [Behavioral biometrics](https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/behavioral-biometrics/) · Proof-of-work shields

## References

[^1]: M. Borge, E. Kokoris-Kogias, P. Jovanovic, L. Gasser, N. Gailly, B. Ford. Proof-of-Personhood: Redemocratizing Permissionless Cryptocurrencies — IEEE Security & Privacy on the Blockchain, 29.04.2017. [bford.info](https://bford.info/pub/dec/pop-abs/)
[^2]: World Foundation: WLD token sale for $52.5 million (title not verified: page is closed) — The Block, 24.07.2026. [theblock.co](https://theblock.co/news/deals/2026-07-24-world-foundation-wld-token-sale-funding-409610)
[^3]: A. M. Turing. Computing Machinery and Intelligence — Mind, Oxford University Press, 10.1950. [academic.oup.com](https://academic.oup.com/mind/article/LIX/236/433/986238)
[^4]: The Official CAPTCHA Site — Carnegie Mellon University. [captcha.net](http://www.captcha.net/)
[^5]: L. von Ahn, M. Blum, N. J. Hopper, J. Langford. CAPTCHA: Using Hard AI Problems for Security — EUROCRYPT 2003, Springer, 05.2003. [link.springer.com](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-39200-9_18)
[^6]: J. R. Douceur. The Sybil Attack — Microsoft Research, IPTPS 2002, 2002. [microsoft.com](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-sybil-attack/)
[^7]: B. Ford, J. Strauss. An Offline Foundation for Online Accountable Pseudonyms — First Workshop on Social Network Systems, 01.04.2008. [bford.info](https://bford.info/pub/net/sybil-abs/)
[^8]: Sam Altman's Worldcoin wants to scan every human's eyeball and give them crypto in exchange — TechCrunch, 21.10.2021. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/21/sam-altmans-worldcoin-wants-to-scan-every-humans-eyeball-and-give-them-crypto-in-exchange)
[^9]: Worldcoin begins rollout of 1.5K Orbs to meet global demand for World ID — World, 24.07.2023. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/worldcoin-begins-rollout-orbs-meet-global-demand-world-id)
[^10]: S. Adler, Z. Hitzig, S. Jain et al. Personhood credentials: Artificial intelligence and the value of privacy-preserving tools to distinguish who is real online — arXiv, 15.08.2024. [arxiv.org](https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.07892)
[^11]: World unveils new Orb and new ways to verify to scale network to 1 billion humans — World, 17.10.2024. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/world-unveils-new-orb-new-ways-to-verify-scale-network-1-billion-humans)
[^12]: Introducing World ID 3.0: New Proofs, more privacy and deep fake prevention — World, 17.10.2024. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/introducing-world-id-3-new-credentials-more-privacy-deep-fake-prevention)
[^13]: At Last, Trust In the Age of AI — World, 30.04.2025. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/at-last-trust-in-the-age-of-ai)
[^14]: Sam Altman's World unveils a mobile verification device — TechCrunch, 30.04.2025. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/?p=3001462)
[^15]: Now available: AgentKit, Proof of Human for the agentic web — World, 17.03.2026. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/now-available-agentkit-proof-of-human-for-the-agentic-web)
[^16]: S. Huffman. Humans welcome, bots must wear name tags — Reddit, 25.03.2026; as reported by TechCrunch, 25.03.2026. [reddit.com](https://www.reddit.com/user/spez/comments/1s3ezrc/) ⧗
[^17]: Access to Mobile Services and Proof of Identity 2021 — GSMA, 04.2021. [gsma.com](https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Digital-Identity-Access-to-Mobile-Services-and-Proof-of-Identity-2021.pdf)
[^18]: Can You Rely on OTPs? A Study of SMS PVA Services and Their Possible Criminal Uses — Trend Micro, 15.02.2022. [trendmicro.com](https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/can-you-rely-on-otps-a-study-of-sms-pva-services-and-possible-criminal-uses)
[^19]: Idena — official website and FAQ. [idena.io](https://www.idena.io/)
[^20]: About BrightID — BrightID. [brightid.org](https://www.brightid.org/about-us)
[^21]: Proof of Humanity – An Explainer — Kleros, 12.03.2021. [blog.kleros.io](https://blog.kleros.io/proof-of-humanity-an-explainer/)
[^22]: Introducing AMPC: Another leap in privacy and performance for World ID — World, 17.10.2024 (updated 08.05.2026). [world.org](https://world.org/blog/engineering/introducing-ampc-another-leap-privacy-performance-world-id)
[^23]: Intro to zero-knowledge proofs and Semaphore application in World ID — World, 17.08.2023. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/world/intro-zero-knowledge-proofs-semaphore-application-world-id)
[^24]: Self, privacy-first identity protocol, extends to India’s 1.4B Aadhaar users — Identity Week, 25.09.2025. [identityweek.net](https://identityweek.net/self-privacy-first-identity-protocol-extends-to-indias-1-4b-aadhaar-users/)
[^25]: ZKPassport Case Study: A look into online identity verification — Aztec, 26.06.2025. [aztec.network](https://aztec.network/blog/zkpassport-case-study-a-look-into-online-identity-verification)
[^26]: Commission makes available an age-verification blueprint — European Commission, 14.07.2025. [digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-makes-available-age-verification-blueprint)
[^27]: Gitcoin Passport: Identity Verification Built on Ceramic — Ceramic, 09.11.2022. [blog.ceramic.network](https://blog.ceramic.network/gitcoin-builds-passport-on-ceramic/)
[^28]: Holonym Foundation Acquires Gitcoin Passport and Launches human.tech — human.tech, 10.02.2025. [human.tech](https://human.tech/blog/holonym-foundation-acquires-gitcoin-passport-and-launches-human-tech)
[^29]: Introducing World ID 4.0 – Request for Comments — World, 30.12.2025. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/engineering/introducing-world-id-4.0)
[^30]: Global progress in identification: 3 findings from the latest data — World Bank Blogs, 30.10.2025. [blogs.worldbank.org](https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/digital-development/global-progress-in-identification--3-findings-from-the-latest-da)
[^31]: A. Plesner, T. Vontobel, R. Wattenhofer. Breaking reCAPTCHAv2 — arXiv, 13.09.2024. [arxiv.org](https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08831)
[^32]: Kenya suspends Worldcoin scans over security, privacy and financial concerns — TechCrunch, 02.08.2023. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/02/kenya-suspends-worldcoin-scans-over-security-privacy-and-financial-concerns/)
[^33]: Police raid WorldCoin cryptocurrency warehouse in Nairobi — Capital FM, 07.08.2023. [capitalfm.africa](https://capitalfm.africa/police-raid-worldcoin-cryptocurrency-warehouse-in-nairobi/)
[^34]: La Agencia ordena una medida cautelar que impide a Worldcoin seguir tratando datos personales en España — AEPD, 06.03.2024. [aepd.es](https://www.aepd.es/prensa-y-comunicacion/notas-de-prensa/la-agencia-ordena-medida-cautelar-que-impide-a-worldcoin-seguir-tratando-datos-personales-en-espana)
[^35]: Comissão de Proteção de Dados suspende recolha de dados da íris pela Worldcoin — Observador, 26.03.2024. [observador.pt](https://observador.pt/2024/03/26/comissao-de-protecao-de-dados-suspende-recolha-de-dados-da-iris-pela-worldcoin/) ⧗
[^36]: HK orders Sam Altman crypto project Worldcoin to halt operations in city over excessive data collection — Hong Kong Free Press, 22.05.2024. [hongkongfp.com](https://hongkongfp.com/2024/05/22/hong-kong-orders-crypto-project-worldcoin-to-halt-operations-in-city-over-excessive-data-collection) ⧗
[^37]: Erste Ergebnisse der Worldcoin-Untersuchung: BayLDA stärkt Betroffenenrechte — BayLDA, 19.12.2024. [lda.bayern.de](https://www.lda.bayern.de/media/pm/pm2024_08.pdf)
[^38]: ANPD determina suspensão de incentivos financeiros por coleta de íris — ANPD, 24.01.2025. [gov.br](https://www.gov.br/anpd/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/anpd-determina-suspensao-de-incentivos-financeiros-por-coleta-de-iris) ⧗
[^39]: Kenya court rules against Sam Altman's World, orders data deletion and halts biometrics collection — The Block, 06.05.2025. [theblock.co](https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2025-05-06-kenya-court-rules-against-sam-altmans-world-orders-data-deletion-and-halts-biometrics-collection-353182)
[^40]: Komdigi bekukan sementara TDPSE Worldcoin dan WorldID — Bisnis.com, 04.05.2025. ⧗
[^41]: M. Borak. Colombia orders World shut down, citing biometrics compliance failures — Biometric Update, 20.10.2025. [biometricupdate.com](https://www.biometricupdate.com/202510/colombia-orders-world-shut-down-citing-biometrics-compliance-failures) ⧗
[^42]: NPC issues cease-and-desist order against Tools for Humanity — National Privacy Commission (Philippines), 10.2025; as reported by InsiderPH, 09.10.2025. [privacy.gov.ph](https://privacy.gov.ph/npc-issues-cease-and-desist-order-against-tools-for-humanity/) ⧗
[^43]: L. Kelly. Sam Altman’s World ordered to delete 1.2 million iris scans in Thailand — DL News, 26.11.2025. [dlnews.com](https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/sam-altman-world-ordered-to-delete-over-1-million-iris-scans)
[^44]: E. Guo, A. Renaldi. Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users — MIT Technology Review, 06.04.2022. [technologyreview.com](https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoin-cryptocurrency-biometrics-web3/)
[^45]: C. Page. Hackers stole passwords of Worldcoin Orb operators — TechCrunch, 12.05.2023. [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/12/hackers-stole-passwords-of-worldcoin-orb-operators)
[^46]: R. Weeks. Black market for verified World IDs (title not verified: page is closed) — The Block, 18.05.2023. [theblock.co](https://www.theblock.co/post/231433)
[^47]: Edward Snowden: “Don't catalogue eyeballs” — X, 23.10.2021; “The human body is not a ticket-punch” — X, 23.10.2021. [x.com](https://x.com/Snowden/status/1451990496537088000), [x.com](https://x.com/Snowden/status/1451995259018391571)
[^48]: V. Buterin. What do I think about biometric proof of personhood? — vitalik.eth.limo, 24.07.2023. [vitalik.eth.limo](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html)
[^49]: M. Green. Some rough impressions of Worldcoin — A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering, 21.08.2023. [blog.cryptographyengineering.com](https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2023/08/21/some-rough-impressions-of-worldcoin/)
[^50]: V. Buterin. Does digital ID have risks even if it's ZK-wrapped? — vitalik.eth.limo, 28.06.2025. [vitalik.eth.limo](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/06/28/zkid.html)
[^51]: P. K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Doubleday, 03.1968.
[^52]: Blade Runner — AFI Catalog, American Film Institute. [catalog.afi.com](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/68260)
[^53]: World ID for agents: Browserbase, Exa, Okta, and Vercel — World, 17.04.2026. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/browserbase-exa-okta-world-id-for-agentic-web)
[^54]: Okta Verify: Proof of Human for the Agentic Web — World, 23.07.2026. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/okta-verify-proof-of-human-agentic-web)
[^55]: Muse, dots, Instinct, and the question every agent will be asked — World, 02.10.2026. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/muse-dots-instinct)
[^56]: The new World ID and the partners bringing Proof of Human to the internet — World, 17.04.2026. [world.org](https://world.org/blog/announcements/the-new-world-id-and-the-partners-bringing-proof-of-human-to-the-internet)
[^57]: A. Tong. OpenAI Wants To Use Biometrics To Kill Bots And Create Humans Only Social Network — Forbes, 28.01.2026. [forbes.com](https://www.forbes.com/sites/annatong/2026/01/28/openai-wants-to-create-biometric-social-network-to-kill-xs-bot-problem/)
[^58]: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 50 — Official Journal of the EU, 12.07.2024. [eur-lex.europa.eu](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj)

— future.log, «Proof of personhood», https://ftrlg.com/en/wiki/proof-of-personhood/ · CC BY 4.0
