Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Thursday, March 21, announced that the United States government was pressuring Kenya to allow the operations of Worldcoin billionaire Alex Blania.
Appearing before the National Assembly Petitions Committee over a petition by Bob Ndolo regarding the banning of TikTok in Kenya, Kindiki announced that President William Ruto’s administration had refused to budge amidst pressure from the US until safety concerns raised in August 2023 were addressed.
“The American government is pushing it to the Kenyan government on that Worldcoin issue but we have remained adamant and firm because we have to first ascertain the public safety and public interest matters,” he told MPs.
“They think they still have a case but we have refused to budge. The position we took remains and we have no reason to review it.”
Kenya banned the cryptocurrency project after the national government raised privacy concerns.
At the time, questions were raised on why registration to the platform which was offering free crypto tokens demanded that Kenya scan their eyeballs.
According to the CS, the United States Senate had also raised concerns about Worldcoin operations but came short of taking decisive steps like the Kenyan government.
"There was an adverse report by the US Senate but it was not really banned," Kindiki disagreed with the parliamentarians that the US government had also banned the cryptocurrency company.
On September 2023, Billionaire Alex Blania appeared before the National Assembly Ad Hoc Committee to answer concerns raised by various Kenyan stakeholders including members of the public.
He refuted claims that scanning of the iris using the Worldcoin Orb caused medical complications.
"Worldcoin is produced in Germany- one of the strictest certification agencies in the world," the billionaire defended the Orb.
