Kenya denies endorsing Worldcoin despite issuing a registration certificate

Worldcoin was launched last week, but controversies still abound. Technext reported the suspension of Worldcoin activities in Kenya earlier in the week.

But now, the East African country’s interior and information ministries, in a joint statement, have said although it issued a data controller registration certificate to Worldcoin in April, it is not a valid license for the project to operate in the country. 

Also, over the last weekend, the Nigerian SEC issued a warning against investing with Binance. The agency insists that the platform has no license to work in the country and that its operation is illegal.

Here are major crypto stories from around the world this week

Suspect admits to the 2016 $4.5b BitFinex hack

A New York resident, Ilya Lichtenstein, accused of the 2016 hack that led to a loss of Bitcoins worth $4.5 billion on Bitfinex, pleaded guilty on Thursday.

According to the officials from the United States Department of Justice, Lichtenstein conspired with Morgan, his wife, to launder 119,754 Bitcoins, worth an estimated $70 billion, when Bitfinex was hacked. 

When the duo was arrested, the DOJ seized 94,000 Bitcoins worth $3.6 billion, the largest seizure in the Department’s history.

Kenya says it did not endorse Worldcoin 

Kenya’s interior and information ministries, in a joint statement addressed to the country’s National Assembly, said the data controller registration certificate issued to Worldcoin on April 18, 2023, is not a valid license for the project to operate in the country. 

According to details in the statement posted Thursday on Facebook by the Kenyan Ministry of Interior and National Administration, Worldcoin is “not registered as a legal entity in Kenya.” 

Explaining:

“An application for a certificate of registration only signifies that the entity has complied with sections 18 and 19 of the Data Protection Act, 2019, and does not endorse an entity’s compliance with the Act or its subsidiary regulations, nor is it a valid license for an organisation to operate in Kenya or authorize the operations of an entity.”

Read also:

Here is all you need to know about Worldcoin; the proof of personhood project

The country has, therefore, kicked off “criminal investigations” to establish “the authenticity and legality” of Worldcoin’s operations in the East African country. The information emerged a day after the interior ministry raised concerns about the activities of Worldcoin in Kenya and ordered the suspension of the project in the country. 

GameStop to delist crypto wallets

Video game retailer GameStop has said it will remove its support for crypto wallets, citing regulatory uncertainty in the United States, just one year after rolling out the service. According to its website:

“Due to the regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space, GameStop has decided to remove its iOS and Chrome Extension wallets from the market on November 1, 2023.”

The wallets released last year allow users to manage crypto and NFTs through decentralised apps and enable transactions of GameStop’s NFT marketplace.

Nigerian SEC insists that Binance’s activities are illegal 

In a notice, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission has said that Binance activities in Nigeria are illegal. Recall that on June 9, the SEC referred to a company called Binance Nigeria Ltd. which Binance denied affiliation with. 

But with this new circular, the SEC specifically referred to the crypto exchange’s website.

“The commission again reiterates that the activities of Binance, https://www.binance.com and any such other platform through which the company solicits investors is neither registered nor regulated by the commission and its operations in Nigeria are therefore illegal.”

Also, the regulator ordered all platform providers affiliated with crypto to stop contacting Nigerian investors.

FTX groups international customers ahead of a restart 

According to a filing on Monday, FTX has proposed to organise its creditors into different classes of claimants and has provided a pathway for one class of claimants to restart the FTX exchange with third-party investors – should the group agree to it.

Read also:

Experts disagree on blockchain’s potential to save financial institutions $10bn by 2030

The first group is claimants of FTX.com offshore exchange, which it calls “dotcom customers”. Next are customers of the U.S. exchange. Then, customers of its NFT exchange followed by general unsecured claims, secured claims, and subordinated claims. 

The priority of these claims will be determined according to the “waterfall priorities,” each class will get a pro-rata payout in what’s left of the pool after the preceding class is finished. The specific order of payout is determined following negotiations with stakeholders.