Worldcoin is set to make a surprise return to Kenya early next year, a report by a local media house has revealed.
The controversial project launched in the East African country in late July and was an instant hit, onboarding over 300,000 Kenyans in its first week. However, controversy arose over its data collection and storage practices, and it was accused of espionage and
suspended in August by Kenyan lawmakers.
The project, co-founded by CEO Alex Blania and OpenAI founder Sam Altman, is set to resume operations in Kenya in 2024, reports local media house Citizen Digital.
The news outlet revealed that Worldcoin had reached an agreement with regulators for its return in early 2024, citing “highly-placed sources within government circles.”
“Operations are set to resume in early 2024,” said the source, who asked not to be named as the discussions are not public yet.
“Worldcoin is working directly with regulators to meet Kenya’s requirements, particularly as the Assembly considers new regulations. Stipends will remain and will expand to locations across the country,” the source added.
Worldcoin’s popularity in Kenya was mainly tied to the 25 WLD tokens it awarded to anyone who registered and surrendered their biometric data through the iris-scanning orb. Most registrants CoinGeek spoke with knew little about the project nor how their data would be stored or used.
However, the 25 WLD, which amounted to Kshs. 8,500 ($60) was too good to turn away for many as East Africa’s largest economy struggles with high living costs, a weak shilling, and a national debt crisis.
One of Worldcoin’s controversies was how it was allowed to operate for so long, only for lawmakers to crack down swiftly in a span of two weeks. A key executive spearheading the project in Kenya, whom CoinGeek spoke to in May 2022, told us they had received the green light from all applicable watchdogs.
This was corroborated by Sam Sadle, the head of government relations at Worldcoin’s parent company, Tools for Humanity, who told lawmakers last September that they had been scanning eyeballs since 2021 in a pilot.
The local executive opines that Kenyan lawmakers went after Worldcoin as it was a low-hanging fruit that they could flex their legislative muscles on. Yet, they have been largely ineffective in regulating the digital assets sector.
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