Kenya has declined a request from the United States government to reverse the suspension of operations of the cryptocurrency project, WorldCoin, the country’s Minister of Interior and National Administration has said.
According to local reports, Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kithure Kindiki, told Parliament that the government will not lift the suspension it imposed in August 2023 on the activities of WorldCoin. Professor Kindiki said the suspension would remain in effect until assurances of the safety and integrity of financial deals are provided.
Addressing the National Assembly’s committee on Public Petitions, Prof Kindiki disclosed that Kenya has faced pressure from the U.S. government to lift the suspension of WorldCoin’s activities.
“The United States has been pushing the government on the issues of WorldCoin, but we have remained adamant and firm,” said Prof Kindiki.
“They (U.S.) think that they (WorldCoin) still have a case to set up their activities here. We have remained adamant and the decision we took will remain. We are not going to review the suspension.”
Kenya’s President William Ruto is thought to have met Worldcoin CEO Sam Altman in September 2023:
Sam Altman (founder of WorldCoin and OpenAI) meeting President Ruto of Kenya.
Does this mean WorldCoin is coming back to Kenya 👀 pic.twitter.com/rcKfz454XH
— Benjamin Fernandes 🇹🇿 (@Benji_Fernandes) September 15, 2023
According to the local minister, the government is also exploring limiting some of the activities of TikTok, in one of its biggest markets in Africa for Tiktok consumption.
Kenya 🇰🇪 Nigeria🇳🇬 South Africa🇿🇦 Leading African Markets in Tiktok Media Consumption, Says Reuters Report
According to the report, the social network reaches 44% of 18-24-year olds across markets and 20% for news. It is growing fastest in parts of Asia-Pacific, Africa, and… pic.twitter.com/E9lZcvhN5O
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 15, 2023
WorldCoin gained notoriety in Kenya as hundreds thronged some venues in the country to register to the WorldCoin program by scanning their iris using WorldCoin’s Orb device and receiving 25 WLD tokens, approximately Ksh7,700 ($54.60) at the time.
In October 2023, an ad hoc committee of parliament said the cryptocurrency project violated Kenya laws and its activities constituted acts of espionage and a threat to statehood.
The committee made several recommendations, including for the government to develop a comprehensive oversight framework and policies on virtual assets and virtual assets service providers in Kenya, within six 6 months.
Kenyan law enforcement has also been asked to investigate WorldCoin and related entities and take legal action while the committee recommended the expulsion of WorldCoin in Kenya pending the presence of regulation.
The regulatory Communications Authority of Kenya should ‘disable the virtual platforms of Tools for Humanity Corp and Tools for Humanity GmbH Germany (Worldcoin) including blacklisting the IP addresses of related websites,’ the ad hoc panel also said at the time.
