Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) closed its Worldcoin criminal investigation in June 2024, removing one major obstacle to a possible return of the project’s Orb enrollment. But the decision was not an unconditional authorization to resume iris scans. The DCI letter reportedly still required Kenyan business registration, relevant licenses and vetting of vendors. A later High Court order, plus a 2026 report that previously collected biometric data had been deleted, makes any claim of a simple Kenyan relaunch misleading.
What the June 2024 DCI decision actually said
According to a June 20, 2024 TechCrunch report, Kenya’s DCI sent Tools for Humanity’s legal team a letter dated June 14 saying its investigation was closed with “no further police action.” Tools for Humanity interpreted that as creating an opportunity to resume World ID registration.
The reported letter did not say that every Kenyan regulator had approved Worldcoin or that enrollment could restart immediately. It called for:
- formal registration of the relevant business in Kenya;
- acquisition of required licenses; and
- vetting of vendors and local operating partners.
Those requirements matter because Worldcoin’s Kenyan operation involved more than a foreign software project. It used Orb devices at local enrollment sites, relied on partners to interact with users and processed highly sensitive biometric information through a group of related entities, including Tools for Humanity companies and the Worldcoin Foundation.
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Why Kenya suspended Worldcoin in 2023
Worldcoin began Kenyan enrollment in 2023. Its Orb captured an iris image to help create a digital proof-of-personhood credential called World ID. Participants were also offered cryptocurrency-linked incentives. The combination of biometric collection, large crowds and token incentives drew intense official scrutiny.
Kenya suspended the scans in August 2023 while authorities examined security, privacy, financial-services and data-protection concerns, as reported by TechCrunch. A separate account described the crowded enrollment process and the role of crypto incentives in attracting participants (TechCrunch, August 15, 2023).
The central issue was not simply whether an Orb could read an eye. Authorities had to consider what biometric representation was created, where it was processed, how long it was retained, whether people understood the exchange and whether a token reward could make consent legally or practically voluntary.
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What Parliament alleged
A parliamentary committee later recommended shutting down Worldcoin’s physical and virtual presence. Its findings, reported by TechCrunch, alleged breaches of data-protection, consumer-protection and computer-misuse laws. The committee also raised national-security concerns and characterized the operation as involving espionage and a threat to statehood.
Those are findings and recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry, not a final judicial determination that Worldcoin was guilty of espionage. The committee also said:
- Tools for Humanity entities were not properly registered as Kenyan businesses;
- local data-collection partners were not properly registered as data controllers or processors;
- the Orb had not received approval that the communications regulator regarded as necessary for telecommunications equipment; and
- the communications regulator should disable Worldcoin’s physical and virtual presence until an appropriate virtual-asset framework existed.
A parliamentary recommendation did not automatically terminate every separate court, regulatory or licensing process. It did, however, show why the DCI’s later closure could not be treated as a complete legal reset.
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One investigation, several legal tracks
“The probe is closed” refers to the reported DCI criminal investigation. It does not mean that Kenya’s entire Worldcoin dispute ended. Different institutions addressed different questions:
| Institution or process | Issue | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Directorate of Criminal Investigations | Criminal investigation | Reportedly closed on June 14, 2024, with no further police action. |
| Office of the Data Protection Commissioner | Collection and processing of personal and biometric data | Earlier enforcement and restrictions were part of the legal background. See the January 25, 2024 Kenya Law judgment. |
| High Court | Whether specified biometric-data practices could continue | A May 5, 2025 judgment prohibited further collection, processing or transfer in circumstances covered by the order. |
| Parliamentary committee | Political and investigative assessment | Recommended shutdown and identified alleged legal, registration and equipment-approval failures. |
| Licensing and communications authorities | Business permissions and Orb approval | Requirements remained issues identified in the DCI account and parliamentary findings. |
This division explains why a police closure could remove a criminal-investigation barrier without lifting a suspension, satisfying a data regulator or authorizing new Orb deployments.
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The later High Court order changed the relaunch picture
On May 5, 2025, Kenya’s High Court issued an order concerning Tools for Humanity and related parties. The judgment, available on Kenya Law, prohibited further collection, processing or transfer of Kenyan biometric data through the Orb unless the specified data-protection requirements were met. It also addressed situations in which consent was obtained through cryptocurrency inducement.
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That ruling is important for two reasons. First, it created a judicial constraint that came after the DCI’s 2024 decision. Second, it treated the consent model itself as a legal issue. A future enrollment scheme could not assume that offering crypto automatically produced valid consent; it would need to show that participation was properly informed and genuinely voluntary under the court’s requirements.
The order also means that an announcement that enrollment “could resume” is not proof that Orbs were redeployed or that Kenyan residents could actually register. A relaunch would require compliance with the judgment as well as with licensing and data-protection obligations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened to the biometric data collected in 2023?
In January 2026, Kenya’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner reportedly said that Tools for Humanity had deleted biometric data collected from Kenyans in 2023. Business Daily Africa reported the statement.
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The deletion report is a later development, not evidence that a new enrollment program had launched. It also does not answer every question a relaunch would raise. Deleting historical data may address retention of that dataset, but a new program would still need a lawful basis for collecting fresh biometric information, an adequate impact assessment, transparent disclosures and compliant consent.
Nor should “iris scan” be treated as shorthand for a particular storage practice. The legal and technical questions include what the Orb captures, what representation is generated, what is transmitted, what is retained and whether deletion can be independently demonstrated. A claim that no biometric data is stored would require a current authoritative source; the available record does not justify making that blanket statement.
What a lawful relaunch would have to demonstrate
For Kenya to move from a possible path to an operating enrollment program, Worldcoin and its partners would need to address at least these areas:
1. Registration and licensing
- Register every relevant Kenyan business and local operating partner.
- Obtain the licenses identified by Kenyan authorities before enrollment begins.
- Resolve any communications-regulator approval required for Orb hardware.
2. A defensible biometric-data basis
- Complete an adequate Data Protection Impact Assessment.
- Explain the legal basis for collecting and processing biometric information.
- Show that consent is informed, specific and voluntary rather than secured through economic pressure or a crypto inducement that the court would reject.
3. Clear data governance
- Tell users where information is processed and which corporate entity is responsible.
- State what is retained, in what form and for how long.
- Provide usable deletion and correction routes.
- Demonstrate deletion when data is no longer legally or operationally required.
4. Safer enrollment operations
- Give understandable notices before a person approaches or uses an Orb.
- Keep minors out of the program and prevent enrollment by intermediaries.
- Control coercion, duplicate enrollment and fraud.
- Explain what happens if a user loses access to the World app or World ID credential.
5. Consumer and public-interest safeguards
- Describe the exchange between biometric information and any token incentive in plain language.
- Disclose that crypto value and availability can change.
- Ensure people are not enrolling merely because immediate economic pressure leaves them no realistic choice.
What “opening the door” means—and what it does not
The June 2024 announcement was significant because it removed the reported DCI criminal-investigation obstacle and suggested that a compliant operating route might exist. It did not establish that the 2023 suspension had been formally lifted, that all licenses had been obtained, that vendors had been approved or that the court and data-protection issues were resolved.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe sequence matters: the DCI letter came in June 2024; the High Court issued a restrictive judgment in May 2025; and the ODPC’s reported data-deletion statement came in January 2026. Read together, those events support a narrow conclusion. Kenya closed one investigation, but the country did not provide a simple, unconditional green light for Worldcoin’s Orbs to return.
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