Kenya is the first nation to suspend World coin operations entirely. European data protection authorities have initiated investigations.
According to a statement posted on the ministry’s Facebook page on Wednesday, Kenya’s Ministry of the Interior has suspended the operations of Worldcoin, the identity crypto protocol co-founded by Open AI’s Sam Altman, while the country’s financial, security, and data protection services investigate the legitimacy and data protection of the project.
“The Government is concerned about the ongoing activities of an organization known as ‘WORLD COIN’ that is engaged in the registration of citizens through the collection of eyeball/iris data,” read the statement signed by Minister Kithure Kindiki.
World coin is attempting to develop a global identification system based on retinal scans that can be used to demonstrate that a user is human and unique. This could be crucial in a world where artificially intelligent agents participate in the economy, according to the initiative. In developing nations, however, the accumulation of bio-metric data and the registration procedure have drawn criticism, including accusations of exploitation.
Suspension
Several European regulators, including the Bavarian data protection office that oversees the company, have launched investigations into World-coin, . Kenya is the first nation to suspend the company’s operations completely pending an investigation by local authorities.
Since the project’s inception one week ago, users whose irises have been scanned have received WLD tokens. In the past 24 hours, the token’s price on crypto exchanges has increased 4.8% to $2.41, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Wednesday saw the release of a “cautionary statement” by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya. According to an email sent to neither the initiative nor the tokens are governed by the authority. The statement warned of “potential fraudulent schemes that may emerge in the over-the-counter market for crypto tokens.” The CMA is prepared to collaborate with the firm in its regulatory sandbox.
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