Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait testified before the departmental Committee on Communication, Information, and Innovation on Tuesday that the ODPC has started a multi-agency investigation to determine the actual status of Worldcoin’s operations.
She also stated that investigations have been started to determine the precise information gathered by the cryptocurrency project.
“Thereafter, on 19th April 2022, ODPC wrote to the Chief Executive Officer of World Coin requesting for information into the collection of sensitive personal data particularly the legal basis for the collection, transfer of the personal data, proof of consent for the transfer amongst other information,” she told the committee.
According to WorldCoin, who responded with a letter dated May 6, 2022, they began collecting on or around May 31, 2021, Kassait continued.
Kassait said that Worldcoin only received a certificate of registration in April 2023 because they met the operational requirements, so it is unclear whether they were operating within the established legal frameworks.
“The certificate simply signifies that an entity is known to the ODPC that it processes data of persons in Kenya,” she said.
“Further it does not amount to certification of the processing activities of an entity or service as an endorsement from the office of an entity’s compliance with other provisions of the Act or any other laws.”
Worldcoin is owned by the US generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) company OpenAI.
Over 350,000 people in Kenya have scanned their eyeballs with the Worldcoin Orb to verify their online identity, known as World ID.
New members were getting 25 free cryptocurrency tokens known as WLD after the process, valued at Ksh. 8,256.
Last week, however, the government stopped all activities associated with the crypto project over safety concerns, until relevant agencies certify the absence of any security risks.
In August, users of the cryptocurrency project were unable to claim their grants on the platform as the app went down because of what the company attributed to high traffic.
Grants are one-time crypto payments for anyone who joins the Worldcoin network.
However, some users who tried to access the project’s World App received ‘Can’t fetch data’ and ‘Returning shortly’ messages along with the notification; “World App is experiencing higher than usual traffic. It will return shortly, please try again later.”
Users who managed to get their grants processed reported getting 10 WLD from Worldcoin. One WLD is currently valued at $2.07 (Ksh. 386).
