--- title: "Worldcoin and Kenya Argue About Who’s Breaking Up With Whom" description: "Kenya claims it is shutting down Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning cryptocurrency within its borders — but Worldcoin has a different take." date: "2023-08-03" modified: "2023-08-03" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/worldcoin-kenya-suspension" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "biometric data" - "sam altman" - "the digest" - "worldcoin" --- # Worldcoin and Kenya Argue About Who’s Breaking Up With Whom ![Kenya claims it is shutting down Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning cryptocurrency within its borders — but Worldcoin has a different take.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Telephone Game Kenya claims it's shutting down Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning Worldcoin cryptocurrency within its borders — but Worldcoin says it's suspending its own services in the country, thank you very much. In a [joint statement](), a group of agencies in the East African nation said that Worldcoin "must cease its data collection activities in Kenya until further notice" as it investigates regulatory concerns about the way the project collects biometric data. Worldcoin, meanwhile, seems to have a different version of events. Citing an "overwhelming" demand for Worldcoin in which "tens of thousands of individuals" waiting in lines across Kenya since its launch last week, the company told *Futurism* in a statement that *it* was the one suspending its services there. "Out of an abundance of caution and in an effort to mitigate crowd volume," the emailed statement reads, "verification services have been temporarily paused." So, to break it down in plain English: Kenya is saying that its government has suspended Worldcoin, and Worldcoin is saying that it suspended itself. The mind, it boggles. ## Time to Cash Out In the middle of this company said/country said is the undeniable fact that [Kenyans *have* been showing up in droves]() to get their eyeballs scanned in exchange for 25 of Worldcoin's bespoke tokens, which are currently [worth about $2.30 cents apiece](). If the equivalent of $57-ish American dollars is worth a 90-second eyeball scan even in the developed world, that could be an even more meaningful amount in less developed ones like Kenya. The good news, the company says, is that users can still access their Worldcoin tokens in the company's wallet, which means that the [reported 350,000 people who signed up]() should be able to get to the money they earned in exchange for their iris scans. What we know for sure is that Kenya, like [Germany, France, and the United Kingdom](), has major issues with the way Worldcoin collects and stores its data. What its future may be in those countries and others (like, you know, the United States) is anyone's guess — and until or unless Worldcoin actually shows governments enough proof that it's securing data, rather than just [issuing vague platitudes]() about it, that future will remain uncertain. **More on Worldcoin:** [*I Let Sam Altman's Worldcoin Scan My Eyeballs With a Orb, and They Didn't Even Pay Me Crypto*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()