Throughout the past week, droves of Kenyans, most of them youths, have been flocking to WorldCoin outlets such as malls to have their eyeballs scanned.
This is due to a new crypto craze called WorldCoin that has hit the country.
Most Kenyans are having their eyeballs scanned to receive the free giveaway, which reportedly amounts to around ksh 7,000 according to the Daily Nation.
However, some have brazenly labelled it as one of the numerous pyramid schemes that have rocked the county in the past.
In this article, WoK looks at the history of World Coin, why it was launched, and how they use your data once they scan your eyeballs.
What is World Coin?
World coin is a cryptocurrency that was co-founded in 2020 by Sam Altman, CEO of Open Ai, the parent company of Chat GPT.
According to Altman, world coin was created as a way to confirm whether someone is a human or a robot by having their eyeball scanned by an ID orb.
He also described it as one of the first steps to creating a universal basic income, one that could see every person in the world paid a basic salary regardless of the type of work they do.
However, the project only works if WorldCoin has millions or billions of users across the world. Accordingly, orbs with iris scanners were sent all over the world to collect people’s biometric data
This data then gets stored on the blockchain as a way to verify that you are a real person and not a robot pretending to be you.
In addition to providing financial inclusion, WorldCoin also aims to create a more secure and reliable way to identify people, a safer way than the use of fingerprints or passwords.
While many were initially skeptical of how it would be received, news outlets across the world reported long queues of people queuing up in malls, supermarkets, and other world coin outlets to have their eyeballs scanned.
According to BBC, the world coin project has been ongoing in 33 different countries, with most scans being reported in Europe, South Africa, and India.
In Kenya, the orbs are available in most malls in Nairobi and Quickmart Supermarkets.
How it works
Once you go to get scanned for WorldCoin, you will be asked to look into a device called an Orb. The Orb will use your iris scan to create a unique identifier for you.
This identifier will be stored on the World Coin blockchain, and it will be used to verify your identity when you use WorldCoin services.
The scanning process takes about 15 seconds, and it is completely painless. One is not required to provide any personal information other than your name and date of birth.
Once your scan is complete, you are given a world coin ID, which you can use to access world coin services. Once is also awarded 25 World coin tokens, which can be redeemed into cash.
The tokens can also be used to access a variety of decentralized finance applications.
Data Privacy
WorldCoin claims that their system is secure and that your iris scan data will be kept private.
However, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) in Kenya has raised concerns about the privacy implications of this technology.
In a statement released on Friday, the office urged Kenyans to thoroughly enquire how the information will be used.
In their privacy policy, World Coin states that they can share your data with law enforcement officials, banks, cloud service providers (such as Google), and companies affiliated with Tools for Humanity, the parent company of WorldCoin.
