At least eleven Kenyan companies were working with WorldCoin even as various stakeholders continued to raise concerns over the company's data harvesting activities in the country.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday August 29, National Computer and Cyber Crimes Director James Kimuyu stated that the 11 companies were secretly working with Worldcoin before the crypto company was banned in Kenya. The State official also revealed that Worldcoin had registered 350,000 Kenyans by July 22.
Kimuyu also revealed that the token that was offered to Kenyans was part of Ksh2.7 Billion which raised by OpenAI in funding from investors so as to facilitate the data harvesting.
The token is valued at around Ksh7,700, but its value has already taken a beating after various governments and organisations clamped down on the firm's data harvesting activities.
The National Computer and Cyber Crimes Director claimed that WorldCoin's plan is to create a global currency that is distributed to everyone.
In their understanding, the company believes that iris scans are a unique and secure way to identify people. However, the WorldCoin project has raised eyebrows due to data privacy concerns.
A huge section of Kenyans have expressed fears that the iris scans could be used to create a universal ID system. Others worry that the data could be hacked or misused.
On Thursday, August 3, the Kenyan government suspended WorldCoin's operations in the country, citing data privacy concerns.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) noted that WorldCoin had not obtained the necessary permissions to collect personal data.
On its part, WorldCoin insisted that it is committed to protecting people's privacy. The company also noted that it will not sell or share iris scans with third parties.
However, it is unclear how the company will prevent the data from being hacked or misused.
The Sam Altman-led company noted that the WorldCoin project is still in its early stages, and promised that the company will be able to overcome the privacy concerns and gain the trust of users.
