Kenyan law enforcement authorities have conducted a raid on a warehouse owned by Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency company, in Nairobi. The officials confiscated equipment believed to contain data collected by Worldcoin as part of its operations. This action follows an ongoing investigation into the company's activities and data collection methods.

Worldcoin had been conducting iris scans of Kenyan residents in exchange for its World tokens (WLD). The project aims to develop a World ID ecosystem that employs iris scans to verify users' identities for accessing financial services, ensuring that users are human and not automated entities. The project is led by "Tools for Humanity," co-founded by Sam Altman, the founder of Open AI, and has received investments from notable venture capital firms, including a16z.

The Kenyan government had suspended Worldcoin's operations and launched an investigation due to concerns about privacy and data security. The company's choice of Kenya as its initial African launch country was influenced by the country's active tech industry and large crypto trading population. The Data Commissioner of the Data Protection Office noted that Tools for Humanity had not fully disclosed its intentions during the registration process.

Read more on TechCabal