WORLDCOIN SOON BACK TO BUSINESS IN KENYA AS CO-FOUNDER EYES NEXT GROUTH PHASE.
CATEGORIES Biometrics News | Civil / National ID | ID for All#worldnews
Hello Binance Square! Worldcoin soon back to business in Kenya as co-founder eyes next growth phase
Worldcoin, the multinational cryptocurrency and digital ID firm, is set to resume its operations in Kenya next year following reported successful negotiations with the East African country’s government.
Per a report by Citizen Digital, the firm, whose activities were banned in the country in August over data privacy concerns, has now agreed to meet certain regulatory requirements.
Worldcoin’s activities were halted when Kenyan authorities noticed growing interest in the project which verifies a user’s humanness and uniqueness using their iris biometrics. All those who registered on the platform were issued a digital ID called World ID.
Officials feared about the safety of the biometric data that was collected from hundreds of thousands of Kenyan citizens in exchange for a crypto token after each verification process. About 635,000 Kenyans were said to have downloaded the app as of September.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was among Kenyan authorities who expressed strong reservations against the World ID project, which has also faced criticism elsewhere around the world over data privacy questions, such as in Argentina. Kenyan lawmakers also criticized it saying it was a threat to the country’s statehood.
Now, the company, co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Tools for Humanity’s Alex Blania, is said to be ready to get back to full business in Kenya in the first few months of 2024, according to an unnamed source cited by Citizen Digital.
