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Coinbase's Former Head of Communications Joins Worldcoin

Elliott Suthers has joined biometric data and crypto firm Worldcoin.

by Ian Allison|Edited by Nick Baker
Updated Jun 10, 2024, 3:39 p.m. Published Jun 10, 2024, 3:37 p.m.
Worldcoin's iris-scanning technology is being questioned by regulators (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk) 16:9CROP
Worldcoin's iris-scanning technology is being questioned by regulators (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk) 16:9CROP

Elliott Suthers, the former head of corporate communications at U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN), has become head of comms for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Worldcoin (WLD), the iris biometric crypto project founded in 2019 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Suthers, who also has experience working in government policy in Washington, D.C., had been with Coinbase since 2018 and oversaw the growth of the business as it became a publicly traded company in the U.S.

Worldcoin has been a divisive project with its biometric data-harvesting "orb," a chrome sphere about the size of a bowling ball that contains a lens for scanning eyeballs. The orb ensures that anyone who gets an account is a person and not a robot – something that's going to be vital when it comes to recognizing authentic human interactions versus those driven by sophisticated AI programs, Suthers said via email.

"No project in the world today has the potential to distinguish humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes and eventually show a potential path for programs like AI-funded UBI," Suthers said. "Most crypto projects think about their customer base in the thousands, or maybe in the millions for an exchange or DEX, Worldcoin is thinking about how it can help billions of people globally."

Ian Allison

Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.

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