Police in Nairobi on Tuesday halted thousands of Kenyans from registering their irises on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s new crypto project Worldcoin that was going on at KICC, Nairobi.

Police officers armed with guns and batons chased away Kenyans who were impatiently waiting in long queues at KICC for their turn to have their irises scanned on Worldcoin’s Orb.

The team from Worldcoin that was conducting the exercise lamented over the move by police saying they were asked to relocate due to security concerns by Kenya government.

According to the crypto project registration officials, they were asked to look for a larger venue that can hosts the thousands of Kenyans thronging their Orb locations to be listed.

Worldcoin says it will inform interested Kenyans where they can register for the cryptocurrency trading platform with the exercise expected to resume on Wednesday.

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Worldcoin Project Co-founders Alex Blania and Sam Altman. PHOTO/WORLDCOIN

Co-founded by billionaire Sam Altman and Alex Blania, Worldcoin was unveiled in July with anyone listing getting their iris scanned with the Orb in exchange for 25 WLD tokens (about Sh7,786).

The main offering of the digital identity crypto project is a World ID or a “digital passport,” which it says proves to other users that the holder is a real human being and not an AI bot.

The Worldcoin Orb. PHOTO/WORLDCOIN

The Orb is a bowling ball-sized chrome gadget, which uses a system of infrared cameras, sensors and AI-powered neural networks to scan one’s iris to verify one is a human being.

Last week, Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) cautioned Kenyans against rushing to register for WorldCoin amid emerging concerns about the collection of crucial data.

According to ODPC, the digital identity cryptocurrency company is processing sensitive personal information hence needs to comply with the Data Protection Act, 2019.