Kenya suspends Worldcoin's operations over data concerns

Tools for Humanity/World ID and the Orb

Kenya's interior ministry suspended Worldcoin's activities until authorities could confirm there was no risk to the public, citing security, financial-services and data-protection concerns regarding its iris scans. Thousands had queued at its roughly 18 Kenyan Orb sites; the project said it had over 3 million sign-ups worldwide, 500,000 of them in the prior week.

• Suspension: interior ministry halted operations pending safety confirmation; cited security, financial services, and data-protection legality.
• Demand: authorities needed to confirm absence of risks to general public before operations could resume.
• Orb sites: ~18 in Kenya experiencing heavy queues (thousands seeking free token incentives).
• Global reach: 3M+ sign-ups worldwide at time of suspension, 500k in prior week; Kenyans represented significant sign-up surge.