By benadeta mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, January 22 2026 - Worldcoin, the controversial cryptocurrency and digital identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, has permanently deleted all biometric data collected from Kenyan citizens, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) confirmed this week.
The move brings to a close a prolonged legal and regulatory standoff over how sensitive personal information was gathered and processed in the country. The decision follows a May 2025 High Court ruling that declared Worldcoin’s operations in Kenya illegal under the Data Protection Act, 2019, and ordered the firm to erase all biometric data, including iris scans and facial identifiers, that it had collected without lawful compliance.
The court found that Worldcoin’s parent company, Tools for Humanity, failed to conduct the required Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and had obtained consent in ways that did not meet legal standards. In a public notice issued on 20 January 2026, the ODPC said that Worldcoin has complied with the court order, confirming that “all biometric data previously collected from Kenyan citizens” has been deleted from the project’s systems.
The regulator said it remains committed to enforcing data protection laws “and ensuring that all data controllers and processors are held accountable for any non-compliance.” Worldcoin launched globally in June 2023, and its Kenya rollout drew rapid public interest when thousands of people queued to have their biometric data, particularly iris scans, captured using the project’s signature Orb devices in exchange for digital tokens known as WLD.
At the time, participants received tokens valued in the local market, sparking massive sign-ups at sites such as the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi. But the exercise was quickly met with alarm from regulators, civil society and privacy experts over the volume of sensitive data collected and the methods by which consent was obtained, including whether participants truly understood the implications of sharing biometric identifiers for a cryptocurrency reward.
In May 2025, the High Court ruled Worldcoin’s Kenyan activities unlawful, citing violations of multiple provisions of the Data Protection Act because the company did not:
1. Conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment before processing sensitive biometric data;
2. Accurately register as a data controller or processor with the ODPC;
3. Secure genuinely informed consent from participants, instead offering cryptocurrency as an inducement.
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The court also prohibited the firm from further biometric data collection or processing in Kenya unless it fully complied with legal requirements.
At that time, civil liberties groups such as Amnesty International Kenya welcomed the ruling as a decisive stand for digital privacy and human dignity, warning that sensitive information should not be “commodified under the guise of innovation.”
Following the ruling, lawmakers voiced unease over whether the deletion was fully verified. In mid-2025, Members of Parliament pressed government agencies, including the Ministry of Information, Communications & Digital Economy and the ODPC, to explain how compliance would be independently verified and what mechanisms would prevent future misuse of sensitive data.
The ODPC has said that compliance was reviewed in coordination with Worldcoin’s data controllers and that the deletion was carried out in line with the High Court’s directive. However, independent public verification of the full scope of the deletion has been limited.
Privacy advocates and digital rights groups have hailed the deletion as a landmark case for data protection in Kenya, reinforcing local legal frameworks that protect individuals’ biometric and personal information. The case is also being watched internationally, as regulators in Europe, Asia and elsewhere have similarly scrutinised Worldcoin’s biometric approaches and compliance with privacy laws.
Worldcoin has not resumed operations in Kenya since the withdrawal and deletion directive, nor has it reintroduced biometric sign-ups. For now, the project’s ambition to build a global digital ID network rooted in iris biometrics remains constrained in the country.
