In the past few days, many Kenyans have lined up to sign for the Worldcoin in the name of cashing about US$50, currently about KES7,000. The Worldcoin joins many other cryptocurrency scams that have cost Kenyans billions so far.
Last year, in June 2022, which is just about 12 months ago, another cryptocurrency dealer called Bitstream disappeared with an estimated KES 1.18 billion for its about 10,000 investors. The scam lasted for about 97 days. The proprietors went to the extent of calling its investors ‘idiots’ for imagining they could get free money from anyone.
Let me declare right from the onset that as things stand, I do not advocate for any form of investment in cryptos (I will share my reasons shortly). On the Worldcoin craze, I have seen many Kenyans lining up to sign up by giving their biometric (eye scanning) Identification Number. This is what I have gathered from the little information that’s available:
- The official website of Worldcoin is very scanty about what the whole thing is all about and exactly what their product or business is;
- The company started around 2019/20, with a very slow pick-up in 2020 and early 2021. As of the third week of July 2023, it crossed the 2 million subscribers mark;
- Notice it is July 2023 when it seems to have picked up in Kenya -with hundreds of gullible Kenyans lining up to carelessly or may I say ‘foolishly’ give their critical biometrics to a business I can bet they have no idea about;
- In 2022, one of the Top Technology based Universities in the USA conducted research that raised red flags on the unorthodox and unethical activities Worldcoin is using to register subscribers in poor countries (NB: The US$50 worth of points it is offering on registration);
- It is not initially operating in the USA, where it is registered and owners are based -it is presently focusing on growing subscriptions in poor countries.
The ‘Elephant’ question now is: Who are these guys purporting to give absolutely free money to strangers they do not know? Why will a private business, registered to make profits and pay its owners as much billions of dollars in dividends, be dishing out free money like that to total strangers? Exactly what is their end game?
Here is the hard truth and reality:
- There really can never be free money from anybody, not in the current economic order that we are living in at the moment. Money is the one thing that makes the world go around -all of us by nature want as much as we can hoard for ourselves. If you believe anybody will give you money for free just like that, then you officially qualify to be a ‘fool’;
- From the little I have gathered from whatever literature is available, the MAIN deal in this Worldcoin thing is the Biometrics they are collecting – I imagine the company hopes to sell these Bio-identities to financial companies or governments should many countries move into the digital currencies;
- The reason why the company is giving handouts mostly in poor countries is because of poor laws or lack of strong data protection on citizen privacy. They are exploiting the poverty status of these countries to lure as many people to register as possible -then the system will gain legitimacy and be fattened for a cash-out;
- The long short of it is this: -it is plain stupid to give your biometric data carelessly with no way of assuring protection or knowing the purpose for which your private information will be used;
- At this point, most governments have officially declined to recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender within their jurisdictions. For as long as this remains, crypto remains a scam -without the backing of a government, money is valueless and a mere piece of paper. That is why you cannot use the Kenya shilling outside Kenya and only in very few countries you can exchange the shilling with the local currency.
A bonus point is that most countries are currently developing their own digital currencies through their Central Banks including the USA & Kenya – once countries are able to issue and regulate digital currencies, cryptos will collapse and die a natural death. Money cannot gain value without an economy backing it -this is an economic order that no government will want to upset anytime soon.