WorldCoin, which is headed by billionaire Sam Altman, is racing against time to churn out more orbs used to scan people's irises after facing a shortage, Semafor Media, a US-based outlet, reported on Wednesday.
Quoting Alex Blania, the Chief Executive Officer of Tools for Humanity which is behind WorldCoin, the outlet reported that the company had upped its ante in manufacturing the crucial equipment.
At the time of publishing, it was estimated that less than 500 orbs had been deployed to the field.
Reports indicate that the shortage was occasioned by increased uptake with 10 million users from 160 countries already signed up.
The orbs are so in demand that more than seven transactions are carried out in just one second.
A firestorm erupted in Kenya after thousands of citizens lined up to have their irises scanned in exchange for a Ksh7,000 token in the second half of last year.
The exercise, which had been running for months, was abruptly stopped in August 2023 by the government citing security concerns.
At the time, security officials were overwhelmed by the high number of Kenyans crowding at Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and ordered the registration to be immediately terminated.
The registration exercise was carried out at the Kenya International Conference Center (KICC) and by that time, 350,000 Kenyans had already signed up.
"Relevant security, financial services and data protection agencies have commenced inquiries and investigations to establish the authenticity and legality of the aforesaid activities," Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki stated at the time.
Shortly after, a Parliamentary Adhoc Committee was set up to probe WorldCoin's operations and at the beginning of October, it recommended for the operations to be halted altogether.
The Committee further asked the National Treasury to develop policies on virtual assets and virtual assets service providers in Kenya.
The company is, however, determined to collect each person's data.
