The controversial crypto project’s launch has been marred into controversy and it’s already facing investigations in nearly half a dozen countries.
The Worldcoin cryptocurrency project has run into another roadblock, this time in
Kenya where the government has formed a 15-member parliamentary committee to investigate the controversial asset.
The Kenyan government formed a 15-member parliamentary committee headed by
Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo to look into the controversial crypto project,
reported a local daily. The parliamentary committee has 42 days to investigate
the project and submit its report to the House committee.
Cointelegraph reached out to the MP to get some insights into their
concerns and case against Worldcoin but didn’t get a response by publishing time.
The parliamentary investigation into the crypto project comes nearly three weeks after
Kenya suspended Worldcoin’s operations after the project failed to comply with government orders to stop scanning users’ iris.
The Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure who has played a key role in suspending Worldcoin
operations told the House committee that the government is concerned by Worldcoin’s activities
registrating citizens and collecting eyeball/iris data, all of which he claims pose serious security risks.
Apart from the parliamentary committee, the Worldcoin project has faced an
all-out rejection from the various regulatory bodies in Kenya.
The court also suspended Worldcoin’s activities after a case filed by the office of
the data commissioner. The court ordered that the data already collected by Worldcoin
between April last year and August 2023 must be preserved pending completion of the lawsuit.
Worldcoin, a digital ID-focused crypto project that offers its native cryptocurrency WLD coin for
scanning the iris of users, launched amid controversies and hype. The project onboarded nearly 2
million users during its trial phase. However, as the project launched for the public in more than a
dozen countries, various reports of the project’s controversial tactics surfaced,
prompting governments in Nigeria, the UK, Argentina, Germany and Kenya to investigate the project.
