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- The Worldcoin (WLD) project has deep liquidity in USDC and WETH via the DEX platform Uniswap.
- Kenyan cabinet secretary for interior and national administration Kithure Kindiki noted that assurance of public safety is provided upfront.
The fast growth of the Worldcoin (WLD) proof-of-persons project has most global regulators concerned with data protection against exploitation. The Kenyan government through the Ministry of Interior and national administration issued a statement on Wednesday suspending all the ongoing Worldcoin registrations.
Notably, the Worldcoin project has been collecting personal information through its eyeball-scanning gadgets in different places around major cities in Kenya for the past few weeks. Thousands of unemployed youths have been lining up for hours to get the WLD airdrop, which is easily liquidated through the Binance crypto exchange and Uniswap DEX.
The Kenyan market has been a huge attraction for Web3 projects seeking to venture into the African market. Moreover, it is estimated that over 4 million Kenyans have already interacted with digital assets in a bid to fight the high cost of living.
Kenyan Government Suspends Worldcoin Mass Registration
According to the statement by Kenyan interior cabinet secretary Kithure Kindiki on Wednesday, the government is apparently concerned with Worldcoin mass registration of people through eyeball scanners on the iris.
Furthermore, the Kenyan government is concerned with the high risks of data exploitation from harvested personal information. As a result, Kindiki urged the Worldcoin project to provide upfront reassurance for the safety of public data collected.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government suspended the activities of Worldcoin and any other similar projects collecting personal information into relevant agencies certifying the absence of any risk to the general public.
Appropriate action will be taken on any natural or jurisdictions persons who further, aid, abets or otherwise engages in or is connected with the activities afore-described,
The Kenyan lawmakers are yet to provide clear crypto regulations but the 2023/2024 financial act intends to tax digital content creators and include other online activities in taxation brackets.
The government has suspended the activities of Worldcoin in Kenya until relevant agencies in Kenya establish their are no risks to the general public: pic.twitter.com/FuPhNtw2Ht
— Mwango Capital (@MwangoCapital) August 2, 2023
The move to suspend the Worldcoin project has, however, not been welcomed by the Kenyan youths who were lining up in shopping malls, and other public places to get the WLD airdrop.
Market Outlook
The announcement of Worldcoin suspension in Kenya did not have a direct negative impact on the WLD price action. According to the latest crypto price oracles, WLD coin traded around $2.4 on Wednesday, up approximately 3.4 percent in the past 24 hours. The Worldcoin project had a market capitalization of about $279 million and a fully diluted valuation of approximately $24 billion.
Concerns over the WLD tokenomics, which favors the founders who control over 90 percent of the total supply, have raised fears of a possible market dump in the future. Meanwhile, the Worldcoin project has bigger challenges in obtaining proper registration to collect personal data around the world.
