The government Wednesday suspended any Worldcoin activities in Kenya.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the state has also suspended any other entity that may be similarly engaging Kenyans.
Kindiki said the government is concerned by the ongoing activities of an organization calling itself ‘Worldcoin‘ which is involved in the registration of citizens through the collection of eyeball/iris data,”
The registration exercise for Worldcoin at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre was stopped on Tuesday over security concerns.
Hundreds of Kenyans who had turned up were turned away as police locked the gate to the venue.
Kindiki has revealed that relevant security, financial services, and protection agencies have commenced inquiries and investigations to establish the authenticity and legality of the aforesaid activities.
“Also investigations of the safety and protection of the data being harvested, and how the harvesters intend to use the data is being looked at,” he said.
For public safety, Kindiki said the integrity of the financial transactions involving such a large number of citizens must be satisfactorily provided upfront.
In addition, the government has warned of any entity or person intending to undertake such an activity.
“Appropriate action will be taken on any natural or juristic person who further aids, abets or otherwise engages minor is connected with the activities afore-described,” Kindiki added.
Police have been roped in to investigate the Worldcoin Cryptocurrency data collection sessions.
The officers went to City Hall on Wednesday to seek information on who booked spaces at KICC grounds and Quickmart outlets to enable the organizers to collect the data.
Officials said the exercise was contrary to advice from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for Kenyans not to give their information.
Detectives from Nairobi Area and DCI headquarters want to understand the motive behind the exercise.
They have teamed up with those from Data Protection Commissioner in the probe and expect to record statements from the organizers of the exercise.
Thousands turned up for a chance to earn Worldcoin Cryptocurrency tokens on Tuesday.
In return, they willingly eyed an orb and had their eye biometrics scanned.
The mostly youthful Kenyans scanned their eyeballs in exchange for Sh7,000 and signed up for the Worldcoin cryptocurrency in what has become an internet buzz this week in Nairobi.
Police arrived and dispersed the people who had queued up at KICC, citing security concerns as the main reason for stopping the process, which has been going on for days.
Users of Worldcoin, which went live on July 24, receive free tokens known as WLD, for proving humanity by having their eyes scanned by devices placed in specific locations across about 35 nations worldwide.
The currency is led by US-based techpreneur Sam Altman who is also the CEO of the popular Open AI that created ChatGPT.
Those who receive the tokens may transfer them to recognized cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and use them to purchase other cryptocurrencies, which can then be withdrawn via liquidity providers on those platforms or sold to other users, generating cash.
The value of each Worldcoin token at the end of the first day of introduction was $2.1 (Sh299).
Everybody who scans their iris on a Worldcoin shiny orb receives 25 World- coin tokens, which are worth around $54.
It is a crypto wallet app launched on July 24, 2023.
It uses a combination of cryptocurrency and biometric registration to create a new kind of global identity service.
Worldcoin was co-founded by Open AI CEO Sam Altman.
It aims to create a global financial network and identity by showing proof of personhood.
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