Worldcoin boss Alex Blania to visit Kenya
Mr Alex Blania, the co-founder of Worldcoin, is scheduled to visit a number of African countries including Kenya, where he will speak about the project which was declared illegal in the country.
During the visit, Mr Blania who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tools for Humanity (TFH) will share explanations on the project that has attracted controversy in Kenya.
“The Worldcoin launch brought rapid global attention to the challenge of proving personhood in a world with advanced AI and an estimated 4 billion people lacking a legal, digitally-verifiable identity,” Worldcoin said in a statement released on Monday, September 4, 2023.
It further said that the teams and companies contributing to Worldcoin are planning to hit the road and meet with regulators, researchers, developers, and other members of the growing international community.
“These meetings are designed to help answer questions, demystify the project, and provide onramps for greater participation in the global economy while preserving individual privacy,” it further said.
Apart from Africa, Mr Blania will also visit the Asian continent and will be joined by Worldcoin project co-founder Mr Sam Altman. From there he will then go ahead and return to North America where he will meet more people.
In August 2023, the Office of Data Protection Management ignored orders to cease its operation in the country.
Appearing before the National Assembly ICT Committee, Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait told Members of Parliament (MPs) that World Coin irregularly mined data from Kenyans from May 2021.
“I want to say that we did not just sit down to watch Kenyans data being misused, we did what we could under the act by asking questions, by ceasing their operations and by warning the public and also embarking on investigations,” she said.
The Data Commissioner said that World Coin was issued with a letter of cease in May 2023 but went on to carry out its data capture activities that entailed scanning the irises of those who turned up for registration in exchange for crypto tokens.
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