According to the Office of Data Protection Management, World Coin, an American cryptocurrency firm, ignored orders to cease its operations in Kenya.
Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait says the Cryptocurrency company continued with operations despite receiving cease orders revoking its registration certificate after the government institution raised flags concerning its operations.
Appearing before the National Assembly ICT Committee, Kassait told MPs that World Coin irregularly mined data from Kenyans from May 2021.
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“I want to say that we did not just sit down to watch Kenyans data being misused, we did what we could under the act by asking questions, by ceasing their operations and by warning the public and also embarking on investigations,” she said.
Further, she revealed that the company was issued with a letter of cease in May 2023 but went on to carry out its data capture activities that entailed scanning the irises of those who turned up for registration in exchange of crypto tokens.
The Director of Criminal probe and other investigative agencies are participating in a multi-agency probe, with a 90-day deadline for its conclusion.
Concerns were expressed by the Office of the Data Protection Management about the monetary incentives given to Kenyans to consent.
“We saw it as an induced consent and in light of this we issued a warning to the country to be vigilant when consenting to give out sensitive information,” Kassait stated.
Kassait mentioned that investigations done thus far has yet to ascertain the data of the number of Kenyans whose data was captured by the World Coin Project.
“We are yet to know the number of Kenyans whose data was captured by the foreign firm. We have commenced investigations,” she said.
Worldcoin offered those who signed up 25 free tokens worth about Kes 7,000, drawing thousands of people to multiple sign-up points in the capital Nairobi.
Worldcoin, set up by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, began operating in June in Germany and provides users with a private digital identity — a “World ID” — after they get their eye’s unique iris pattern scanned.
According to its founders, the project aims to solve one of the main challenges facing the crypto industry which largely relies on pseudonyms to operate, leaving it vulnerable to spam bots and scams.
More than 2.1 million people have signed up for Worldcoin across the world, with iris scans conducted in 34 countries, according to the company’s website.
