Two Cabinet Secretaries have issued contradicting positions on the ongoing registration in Kenya by American cryptocurrency project Worldcoin amid spiraling controversy.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Wednesday issued orders suspending all the registration activities being conducted by Worldcoin citing security concerns.

This comes as the crypto project firm co-founded by billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Alex Blania has already registered more than 360,000 Kenyans since landing in the country on its Orb machine that scans the iris.

According to Kindiki, the registration will remain suspended until all the relevant agencies in the country have conducted an in-depth security assessment to certify the project’s safety.

“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,” the statement by the CS reads in part.

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Kindiki warned that the government will take drastic action against anybody found aiding in the registration of Kenyans on Worldcoin’s Orb or engaging in any other related activities.

“Further, 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,” the statement went on.

To register for Worldcoin, one must have their iris scanned to receive a World ID and in exchange they get 25 free WLD crypto tokens which are currently valued at about Sh7,786.

The suspension by Kindiki comes only hours after ICT and Digital Economy CS Eliud Owalo confirmed that indeed Worldcoin was legally operating its registration process in Kenya.

Owalo says the government is aware of OpenAI’s activities and that the firm sought relevant clearances months before Worldcoin began its voluntary registration in Kenya last week.

“This is something that started way back in April. We have a fully-fledged Data Commissioner’s office charged with the regulation of data security and privacy. In April, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner got wind of Worldcoin and wrote them a letter to clarify what they wanted to do,” said Owalo during an interview on NTV on Wednesday morning.

The ICT CS confirmed that Worldcoin’s scanning of people’s irises in Kenyan in exchange for free WLD cryptocurrency tokens does not violate the country’s Data Protection Act.

“Information available to the Data Commissioner is that within the existing legal frameworks there is no provision in the law that the organisation has breached. There has been correspondence with them,” he confirmed.

Owalo added that the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) held several meetings with Worldcoin on data safety concerns before launching their local operations.

“There could be security and regulatory issues around it which we need to improve, but as far as the Data Act is concerned, they were acting within the law. Their argument is that they are getting the data voluntarily from Kenyans,” intimated Owalo.

He said Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait will give further direction on the matter later Wednesday even as he hinted at the State pushing to further strengthen data laws.

The Data Protection Act states that a subject has a right to be informed on how their personal data will be used, to access that data and to object to the processing of all or part of the said data.

This comes a day after police halted Worldcoin’s registration at Kenya International Convention Center (KICC) as thousands lined up to enlisted for the second consecutive day.