Kenya has been at the center of a debate about the newly launched Worldcoin project, and this week brings another update.
A story from the local newspaper The Star says that the country’s leaders have put together a 15-person parliamentary committee to look into the controversial asset.
Recall that Worldcoin’s launch has been marred with controversy, and it currently faces investigations in about five major countries. Also, we reported less than two weeks ago that police in the East African country raided the company’s warehouse in the country’s capital, Nairobi.
Read also: Worldcoin attracts concerns of privacy regulators over biometric data
The committee on Worldcoin in Kenya’s parliament
The Kenyan government reportedly established a 15-person committee under the leadership of Gabriel Tongoyo, a member of parliament for Narok West, to investigate Worldcoin.
Members of the group came from the Tourism and Wildlife, Communication and Innovation, Administration, and Internal Security committees. The committee has 42 days to look into the project and give the House committee its report.
Kithure Kindiki, the Interior Cabinet Secretary, told the House Committee that the government is worried about Worldcoin’s activities of registering citizens and collecting iris data, which he said all pose major security risks.
This parliamentary investigation into the crypto project comes almost three weeks after the country shut down Worldcoin because it didn’t stop reading users’ iris as the government told it to.
The various regulatory bodies in Kenya have completely rejected the Worldcoin project aside from the parliamentary committee. Two weeks ago, Kenyan police raided a building in Nairobi that belongs to Worldcoin.
According to reports, the Kenyan police carried out a search warrant and took Worldcoin’s papers and machines from a warehouse in Nairobi, the capital of the East African country.
Kenya police raids Worldcoin warehouse, confiscates equipments
Worldcoin overview
Worldcoin is a digital ID-focused cryptocurrency project that lets people scan their iris to get their own currency, $WLD. During the project’s test phase, it was said that nearly 2 million people joined.
San Francisco and Berlin-based Tools for Humanity developed it. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania founded it in 2019 with the assistance of VC Andreessen Horowitz.
Worldcoin, however, has had a challenging three weeks as a result of ongoing investigations in important nations like the United Kingdom, Argentina, Germany, and Kenya.
Worldcoin wants to stop bots and fake online IDs made possible by artificial intelligence by creating a reliable way to verify people online called World ID. Worldcoin tries to get people to join its network by having their irises read with its orb-shaped iris scanner. This is similar to how UBI distributes its cryptocurrency.