The Kenyan Ministry of Interior announced on its official Facebook page that all operations of the global identity crypto protocol Worldcoin (WLD) project, which is co-founded by Sam Altman, the founder and CEO of viral artificial intelligence chatbot OpenAI, have been suspended in the country. This decision was made due to the ministry’s ongoing investigation into the project’s compliance with the law and data protection regarding the country’s financial, security, and data protection services.
Worldcoin aims to create a global identity verification mechanism based on iris scans, which can prove the uniqueness of an individual. According to the project, this is crucial in a world where AI-powered agents are gradually entering the economy.
The project’s collection of people’s biometric data and the registration of individuals in developing countries have led to various criticisms, including privacy concerns and accusations of data breaches.
Kenya Becomes the First Country to Halt Operations
Several European regulatory bodies, including the Bavarian Data Protection Office that oversees Worldcoin, have initiated investigations into the project. However, Kenya has taken it a step further by becoming the first country to suspend all operations of the company during the investigation period.
Users who undergo iris scans are awarded with the WLD token, which was launched last week. According to CoinMarketCap data, the WLD token has seen a 3.22% increase in the last 24 hours and is currently trading at $2.39.
During its launch week, the token reached a record high of $3.58. However, due to the ongoing privacy and data breach discussions, the WLD token is now priced 33.29% below its record high.
