Kenyan Official Claims US Intervened To Release Detained Worldcoin CEO And Chief Legal Counsel

Kenyan Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki claimed that U.S. authorities blocked the country from detaining Worldcoin Chief Executive Alex Blania and its chief legal counsel Thomas Scott.

Kindiki said Blania and Scott were stopped and put in custody, but the U.S. government intervened and told Kenyan authorities to release the executives, as they had not been charged with any crime.

"They tried to leave the country but were stopped and put in custody. However, the U.S. government intervened saying they should be allowed to leave because they haven't yet been found guilty of committing a crime and gave an undertaking that it will produce them when required," the Kenyan interior cabinet secretary revealed when he appeared before an ad hoc committee of the National Assembly investigating Worldcoin's activities in the country.

Worldcoin, the iris-biometric cryptocurrency project, attracted the scrutiny of regulators across the globe when it launched in July.

In early August, the Kenyan government, through its Ministry of the Interior, suspended Worldcoin operations over concerns about the company's activities, including "the registration of citizens through the collection of eyeball/iris data."

At the time, Kindiki said, "Relevant security, financial services and data protection agencies have commenced inquiries and investigations to establish the authenticity and legality of the aforesaid activities, the safety and protection of the data being harvested, and how the harvesters intend to use the data," noting that "it will be critical that assurances of public safety and the integrity of the financial transactions involving such a large number of citizens be satisfactorily provided upfront."

This month, Kindiki disclosed before the ad hoc committee of the National Assembly that the government recovered orbs and other electronic gadgets that Worldcoin used to collect participants' iris data.

The confiscated gadgets, according to the official, had been submitted to the Communications Authority and the cyber forensic laboratory for analysis.

"This will enable the investigators to ascertain the exact number of people in Kenya who were signed up and their sensitive personal data collected as well as the capability of the apparatus, possible health implications and whether they were authorized for use in the country," he said.

"Pertinent documents relevant to the investigations have also been recovered and are currently being analyzed, with 26 statements recorded from witnesses and persons of interest," Kindiki added.

As of 4:17 a.m. ET on Wednesday, WLD was trading up at $1.39, with a 24-hour trading volume down by 4.58% at $98,978,285, representing a 0.99% increase in the last 24 hours and a 41.6% loss over the past seven days.

Based on the latest data from CoinMarketCap, WLD's total circulating supply stands at 130,344,509 WLD, with its value up by 1.02% at a $181,727,107 market cap.

(Correcton: This story and its headline were edited to make it clear that the Worldcoin executives were only detained, not arrested, before being released. The error is regretted.)