By
Svetlana Soroka
May 10th, 2024
By suspending Worldcoin’s activities, the Kenyan government becomes the first to do so. Several others have merely started investigations into the project.
The Kenyan government has announced the suspension of the local activities of Worldcoin, a digital identity project. Kenya’s Ministry of Interior and National Administration announced the suspension on its Facebook page. Citing concern for the safety of Kenyans, It noted that the suspension would remain pending further investigation.
According to the Cabinet Secretary, Kithure Kindiki, “relevant security, financial services, and data protection agencies have commenced inquiries and investigations.” These agencies have been tasked with establishing the legality of the data collection activity, the data protection mechanisms, and how the harvested data will be used.
About Worldcoin
Worldcoin is a digital identification platform that aims to verify the identity of every person on the planet using iris-scanning technology. This, it claims, will become useful in differentiating between humans, bots, and AI algorithms in the future. In exchange for their data, participants get 25 Worldcoin tokens (WLD).
Worldcoin launched its iris-scan-for-token orbs globally after trial runs in Indonesia, Chile, Kenya, and 24 other countries. Despite a global launch, it seems to have received the most acceptance in Kenya. This is not surprising given that the 25 WLD translates to about KES7500, which is half of the average monthly pay of low-wage earners in Kenya.
Worldcoin Is Yet to Respond
By suspending Worldcoin’s activities, the Kenyan government becomes the first to do so. Several others have merely started investigations into the project.
At the time of writing, Worldcoin has not yet issued any official response to the government’s decision. However, it has previously stated that it was working to comply with the laws and regulations of each country where it operates. The firm has also noted that it does not store or share any personal data collected by the Orb. Again, the company said that “with regard to GDPR, Worldcoin is fully compliant with all laws and regulations governing biometric data collection and data transfer.”
The suspension of Worldcoin in Kenya is a major setback for the project, which has ambitious plans to expand its operations to other countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The WLD token was trading at $2.39 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap. It remains to be seen how the suspension of Worldcoin’s activities in Kenya will affect the token price.