The Kenyan government has taken action to halt Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project, from signing up new users in the country due to data privacy concerns. Founded by US tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, Worldcoin offers free crypto tokens to individuals who consent to have their eyeballs scanned, attracting thousands of Kenyans who have queued up to receive approximately $49 worth of the currency.
The Communications Authority of Kenya issued a warning to citizens to exercise caution when sharing their data with private companies. The concerns raised by the government include the storage of biometric data, offering money in exchange for data, and entrusting such vast amounts of data to a private entity. The Ministry of the Interior has launched an investigation into Worldcoin’s operations and called on security services and data protection agencies to determine its legitimacy and compliance with the law.
In response to the government’s actions, one of the pop-up registration centers in Nairobi had to turn away many people due to security risks caused by the large crowds. Despite the concerns about data privacy, some individuals expressed their enthusiasm for Worldcoin, mainly due to the financial benefits it offers.
Worldcoin claims to be building a new global “identity and financial network” as a public utility that grants ownership to everyone, aiming to establish universal access to the global economy irrespective of their country or background. Sam Altman hopes that this initiative will help differentiate between humans and robots and potentially lead to a universal basic income for everyone, although the exact mechanisms remain unclear.
The company insists that no data is stored, but privacy experts worry that the sensitive data collected through iris scanning could be vulnerable to unauthorized access. Both the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) and the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority (CMA) have expressed concerns about Worldcoin’s registration process and its lack of regulation in Kenya.
Digital rights lawyer, Mercy Mutemi, suggests that less intrusive methods can be used to verify human identity without compromising data privacy. While Worldcoin selected Kenya as its first African launch country due to its thriving tech space and crypto trading community, regulatory scrutiny has been mounting in other countries, including Indonesia, France, Japan, Germany, Spain, and the UK.
Cataleya Middleton
Nylah Doyle
Franco Hester