- Law enforcement agencies in Kenya recently raided a warehouse in Nairobi belonging to Worldcoin.
- Kenyan police executed a search warrant over the weekend, seizing the crypto project’s documents and machines.
- The confiscated data is being analyzed by Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
- Worldcoin’s parent firm reportedly failed to disclose its true intentions at the time of registration.
Worldcoin’s warehouse in Nairobi was reportedly raided by Kenyan law enforcement agencies over the weekend. The raid came amid growing scrutiny of the controversial crypto project that was launched by ChatGPT founder Sam Altman last month. Privacy watchdogs around the world have expressed concerns over Worldcoin’s biometric data collection through iris scans in exchange for WLD tokens.
Worldcoin Failed To Disclose Its True Intentions
Local media reported earlier today that the Kenyan executed a search warrant on August 5, 2023, at one of Worldcoin’s facilities in the capital city of Nairobi. The raid, which involved officers from multiple agencies, resulted in the confiscation of documents and machines that are believed to be associated with the crypto project’s biometric data collection.
The raid was reportedly conducted under the supervision of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The seized machines and documents are reportedly being analyzed at the headquarters of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Immaculate Kassait, the Data Protection Commissioner, has accused Tools for Humanity, the crypto project’s parent firm, of failing to disclose its true intentions at the time of registration.
The raid came just days after Kenya’s Ministry of Interior and National Administration ordered the crypto project to shut down its operations and initiated an investigation into its activities in the country due to concerns over privacy and security. The Kenyan Capital Markets Authority (CMA) previously expressed concerns about biometric data collection and publicly stated that Worldcoin was not regulated in the country.
Kenya was the first African nation targeted by Worlcoin, given its booming tech industry and a four million-strong crypto trading community. The crypto project has maintained that its activities are in accordance with Kenyan regulations. However, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki told the Kenyan Parliament last week that the firm was not registered as a legal entity in the country.
Since its launch last month, Worldcoin has come under scrutiny from multiple privacy and data regulators around the world, including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. France’s CNIL and the Bavarian State Authority in Germany have launched a joint investigation into the crypto project’s activities.