Worldcoin, the biometric proof-of-personhood identification protocol, has agreed to temporarily stop its operations in Spain. According to statements from the Spanish privacy watchdog AEPD, the company committed to stop its data collection practices for a year or until Baviera’s privacy regulator finishes its investigation into Worldcoin’s inner workings. Worldcoin to Pause Biometric Data Collection Activities […]
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Telegram Banned in Spain for Not Cooperating in Unauthorized Content Probe
Telegram, the messaging powerhouse, has been banned in Spain on a case investigating the hosting of unauthorized content owned by media companies in Spain. The Audiencia Nacional (National Court), one of the highest courts in Spain, has authorized this ban until Telegram cooperates by sending the required info to the court. Audiencia Nacional Bans Telegram […]
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Worldcoin Introduces Complaint Against Operations Ban in Spain
Worldcoin, the biometric iris scanning project, has introduced a complaint against the actions of the AEPD, the personal data protection agency in Spain. Tools For Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, argues that the agency circumvented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) established procedures when taking the ban actions against the project. Worldcoin to Fight Operations […]
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Worldcoin Ordered to Stop Operations in Spain
Worldcoin, the biometric identity project, has been banned from operating in Spain for up to three months, according to a press release from the Spanish data agency, the AEPD. The agency will also require Worldcoin to stop using the already collected data from Spanish citizens, utilizing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a […]
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Spain Blocks Worldcoin Project Over Data Privacy Concerns, WLD Token Slides 7%
The cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, spearheaded by Sam Altman, has faced another setback as Spain takes steps to block the venture. The Spanish data protection regulator, AEPD, has ordered Worldcoin to immediately halt the collection of personal information within the country and cease using the data it has already gathered.
Concerns Over Worldcoin Eyeball-Scanning Data Collection
According to a Financial Times report, the AEPD expressed concerns about the project’s use of an eyeball-scanning “orb” to collect customers’ data. The regulator is expected to announce a “precautionary measure” on Wednesday, and Worldcoin has been given 72 hours to demonstrate compliance with the order.
Worldcoin, co-founded by Altman in 2019, has offered its cryptocurrency tokens to individuals worldwide in exchange for consent to scan their eyes with an orb. The scans serve as a means of identification, aiming to establish a reliable mechanism to distinguish between humans and machines as artificial intelligence advances.
However, the Spanish regulator’s action adds to a series of setbacks faced by Altman and his co-founders, Max Novendstern and Alex Blania, who have encountered resistance in various countries.
Last year, Worldcoin faced opposition from authorities in Kenya, resulting in an order to cease operations. Additionally, the project refrained from launching its crypto tokens in the United States due to the country’s stringent regulations on digital assets.
The report further notes that major global markets such as China and India have also not made the Worldcoin token available. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office had also expressed intentions to investigate Worldcoin.
Consumer Complaints In Spain
While some jurisdictions have questioned the viability of Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency token, Spain’s recent action specifically targets the project’s core objective of establishing a method to verify customers’ “personhood.” Altman acknowledged the possibility of Worldcoin existing without its in-house cryptocurrency, as the start-up faces growing scrutiny.
Worldcoin has reportedly registered approximately 4 million users, and investments totaling around 0 million have come from venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures and prominent individuals like Reid Hoffman and Sam Bankman-Fried.
The project gained media attention and sparked consumer complaints in Spain, particularly as queues formed at shopping center stands where Worldcoin offered cryptocurrency in exchange for eye scans.
In January, the data protection watchdog in Spain’s Basque Country, known as AVPD, warned about the eye-scanning technology used by Worldcoin in a mall in Bilbao.
The AVPD deemed it subject to biometric data protection rules and called for a risk assessment. As a result of Spain’s regulatory action, the native token of Worldcoin, WLD, has experienced a 7% decline within the past 24 hours.
WLD Halts 200% Price Surge
Worldcoin’s native token, WLD, has halted its 200% upward trend over the past 30 days as the focus shifts to Bitcoin (BTC), which recently achieved a new all-time high (ATH) on Tuesday. Despite the significant uptrend in the past month, WLD has experienced a 5.8% price correction in the last seven days.
Furthermore, the token’s market capitalization has slipped below the billion mark and currently stands at 7 million. However, the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed by Sam Altman’s projects hold the potential to influence the token’s price in the future significantly.
Despite being down by 26% from its ATH of .44, the ongoing technological advancements in this field indicate that the token’s prospects remain promising.
Moving forward, it remains to be seen how the project’s founders will respond to the regulatory measures taken in Spain and how these actions will ultimately impact the token’s future price trajectory.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
Torrevieja to Become the First Crypto Friendly City in Spain
Torrevieja, a city of almost 90,000 inhabitants, aims to become one of the first crypto-friendly locations in Spain. The city, in alliance with Apymeco, its merchant association, will incentivize using cryptocurrency as a payment option and give courses for stores interested in learning how to receive and use cryptocurrency. Torrevieja to Incentivize Crypto Adoption Torrevieja, […]
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Crypto Winter In Spain? New Taxes Target Digital Assets
In a move that could have ripple effects across Europe, Spain is tightening its grip on crypto monitoring and seizing digital assets for tax debts. The Ministry of Finance, led by María Jesús Montero, is spearheading legislative reforms to grant the Spanish Tax Agency enhanced powers to identify and seize crypto holdings from taxpayers with outstanding debts.
This follows a February 1st decree expanding the entities obligated to report tax information to the Treasury, encompassing banks, savings banks, and even electronic money institutions.
The measures come amidst Spain’s proactive approach to regulating the digital asset landscape ahead of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework, set for full implementation in December 2025.
Key Provisions Of The Crackdown
The proposed crackdown on cryptocurrency in Spain includes several key provisions aimed at strengthening the government’s ability to regulate and collect taxes in the digital asset space.
One major aspect of the legislative changes is the expansion of the Tax Agency’s authority, granting it the power to directly identify and seize assets associated with taxpayers having overdue debts.
Additionally, the February 1st decree widens the scope of entities obligated to report tax-related data to the Treasury. This now includes not only banks, savings banks, and credit cooperatives but also electronic money institutions. This expanded list potentially provides a broader framework for tracking digital currency transactions.
Spanish residents holding crypto assets on foreign platforms are subject to a mandatory declaration to the tax authorities by the end of March 2024. Initiated on January 1st, 2024, this declaration period requires individuals and corporations to disclose the value of their crypto holdings abroad as of December 31st, 2023.
While all Spanish residents with foreign crypto holdings are required to make a declaration, only those exceeding €50,000 (approximately ,000) are obliged to declare them for wealth tax purposes.
Individuals holding their crypto in self-custodied wallets, outside of exchange platforms, must report them through the standard wealth tax form. These measures collectively aim to establish a more robust regulatory framework for cryptocurrency transactions and holdings in Spain.
Spain At The Forefront Of Crypto Regulation
Spain’s proactive stance on crypto regulation positions the country as a frontrunner within the European Union. Notably, the country is implementing its own crypto regulatory framework ahead of the EU-wide MiCA framework coming into effect in late 2025. This preemptive approach underscores Spain’s commitment to establishing clear regulations within the crypto space.
Furthermore, Spanish tax authorities issued over 325,000 warnings in 2023 to residents who failed to declare their crypto holdings, marking a significant increase from the 150,000 warnings issued in 2022. This highlights the government’s growing focus on ensuring compliance within the crypto tax landscape.
Challenges And Considerations
While Spain’s efforts to regulate and tax cryptocurrencies are notable, some potential challenges remain. The rapid implementation of these changes might pose regulatory hurdles, requiring careful calibration to ensure effectiveness and minimize unintended consequences.
Additionally, accurately tracking and seizing self-custodied crypto assets, held outside of exchange platforms, could prove difficult due to the inherent anonymity associated with such wallets.
Global Implications
Spain’s move could serve as a precedent for other countries seeking to establish frameworks for monitoring and taxing cryptocurrencies. As the global crypto market continues to evolve, Spain’s proactive approach offers valuable insights for policymakers worldwide navigating the complexities of regulating this dynamic asset class.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
Bank of Spain Announces Partners for Wholesale CBDC Trials
The Bank of Spain has announced that Adhara, a treasury and transactions payment platform, and a consortium formed by Cecabank and Abanca, two private banks, will be its partners in the development of several upcoming wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials, which will be complete outside of the ongoing digital euro process.
Bank of Spain Announces Wholesale CBDC Trial Partners
The Bank of Spain is moving to test a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in partnership with two tech partners. The bank recently announced that it enlisted the aid of Adhara, a Web3 company, and a consortium of two national banks, Cecabank and Abanca, to design and test different platforms involving a wholesale CBDC.
In a document, the Bank of Spain describes that Adhara will work in “the simulation of achieving interbank payments both with the same tokenized wholesale CBDC and with several wholesale CBDCs issued by different central banks.” To this end, Adhara needs to develop several CBDC infrastructures to provide wallets to the involved entities and a digital interbank payments platform.
In the case of the Abanca-Cecabank consortium, the trials will be centered around “testing the integration of a wholesale CBDC with the settlement of financial assets and providing practical evidence about the possible advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of a wholesale CBDC compared to traditional processes, procedures, and infrastructures.” This comprises the issuance, tokenization, and registration of a simulated bond on a blockchain platform managed by Cecabank.
The bank opened the calls for contributors to present their proposals more than a year ago. These tests are separated from the ongoing pilot project of the digital euro, which entered the “preparation phase” in October, which includes finalizing the digital euro rulebook and the selection of providers to develop an infrastructure for the European currency.
What do you think about the Bank of Spain’s wholesale CBDC tests? Tell us in the comments section below.
Centralized Provider Problem Causes Nationwide Digital Payment Meltdown in Spain: Users Turn to Crypto and Cash
A problem with Redsys, a third-party platform used in all of Spain, caused a meltdown for almost all of the digital payment options in the country, leaving citizens without means of payment for hours. The incident left stores without the possibility of using credit and debit cards for receiving payments, and users had to turn to cash and other options like crypto.
Redsys Problems Cause Nationwide Payment Meltdown in Spain
A still undisclosed problem in one of the main payment providers in Spain has caused a nationwide disruption in the payment networks in the country, leaving stores and e-commerce without means for accepting digital payments.
The incident, referred to by the company as “last-minute payment service degradations, exclusively linked to internal communication lines,” which occurred on November 18, affected the credit and debit card networks of Visa and Mastercard, ATMs, and other online payment methods, leaving businesses unable to process payments for a few hours.
Redsys provides payment intermediation services for more than 60 banks and other institutions after its fusion with Iberpay and Cecabank in 2019, a movement directed to cut costs and improve interoperability. However, this concentrated all digital payment users under one platform, amplifying the impact of the situation.
Effects and Reactions
Spaniards affected by this problem used social networks to explain how they dealt with the situation. Some criticized the posture of progressive cash elimination in the country, with the forced reduction of cash payments to a maximum of 1,000 euros per payment, a measure that was called out explicitly by the European Central Bank as an endangerment of the concept of legal tender.
X user Luis Salvatierra said he had no cash and had to turn to crypto to pay for a meal. He stated:
The national Redsys network has gone down while I was in line to eat at IKEA without having any cash, I was able to buy a gift card with Bitrefill and Phoenix Wallet. I can eat now.
Some emphasized the need to carry cash as a failsafe in case one of these disruptions occurs again. However, others had to stop their purchases due to the impossibility of making payments with the tools available.
Cash is still one of the primary payment methods used in Spain, with 65% of people using it daily, even with a significant reduction in the ATMs available in the country.
What do you think about the reduction of cash usage in favor of digital payment alternatives? Tell us in the comments section below.
Bank of Spain Report: Most Spaniards Don’t Want Digital Euro, 65% Would Not Use It
A recent report issued by the Bank of Spain that inquires about how Spaniards use cash for payments has revealed the low degree of confidence they have in a hypothetical digital euro. 65% of the citizens surveyed reported that they would not use the digital euro as they feel comfortable with the payment options available today.
Bank of Spain Report Evidences Cash Preference
A recent report of the Bank of Spain has revealed the low preference that an upcoming digital euro, the proposed European central bank digital currency (CBDC), would have compared to other payment alternatives. The report, which studied the evolution of the use of cash by Spaniards, took a representative sample of 1,606 citizens of the general population and 1,616 linked to small stores and hospitality services.
Cash is still the most used form of payment for Spaniards, according to the report, with 65% of the Spanish population using cash daily. Credit and debit cards follow while payment apps and electronic payments are marginally used but growing compared to last year’s report.
The report shows that even with the 1,000-euro limit established for cash payments in the Antifraud law passed in 2021 and the reduction of ATMs, Spaniards still use cash as one of their main payment methods.
Digital Euro Stats
The digital euro is still relatively unknown for Spaniards: only 20% of the general population has heard about its possible issuance.
Besides the low awareness rate about this new digital payment method, most of the surveyed users disliked the idea of using a hypothetical digital euro. 65% of the users consulted stated they would not use the digital euro as they feel comfortable with today’s available payment methods.
Only 20% would complement their current payment methods using the digital euro. However, preference for the digital euro decreases while age increases, as younger users are more open to adding it to their payment methods.
For polled citizens between 18 and 24 years old, the proportion of users open to this new payment tech rises to 34%, while for users older than 65, it plummets to 7%.
The European Union (EU) has not decided on issuing the digital euro yet, but the project recently entered its preparation phase, which will serve for “finalizing the digital euro rulebook and selecting providers that could develop a digital euro platform and infrastructure.”
What do you think about the digital euro and its lack of popularity in Spain? Tell us in the comments section below.