News Summary

• Now Kenya could be one of the first to ban it outright.The country’s Ministry of the Interior has issued a decree suspending Worldcoin enrollment in the country, citing concerns with the “authenticity and legality” of its activities in the areas of security, financial services and data protection.
• In the U.K., one of the other countries where regulators are looking into Worldcoin’s privacy and security, three venues were listed in London last week at launch, including one, curiously, in a coffee hut in Kensington Gardens adjacent to Hyde Park.
• Kenya was one of the first countries where Worldcoin — the controversial startup that aims to create a new “human identity and financial network” through eye scans and its own cryptocurrency — launched sign-ups.
• pic.twitter.com/yFkxknJenX— Nation Africa (@NationAfrica) August 1, 2023It’s worth asking why the authorities didn’t think of this eventuality, or any of the privacy and security implications, before allowing Worldcoin to establish operations in the country in the first place.
• Kenya — along with Chile, Indonesia, France and Sudan — was one of the first countries to pilot the registration service back in 2021.
• That disappeared after the first day and eventually one of the other locations did, too.