Buenos Aires Embraces Blockchain for Digitizing Identity Documents
Summary:
Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital city, is adopting blockchain technology to digitize identity documents for its 15 million residents. Starting from October, citizens will access documents such as birth and income certificates via a digital wallet. Developed by Web3 firm Extrimian, QuarkID's digital identity protocol will power these wallets utilizing zkSync Era, an Ethereum scaling protocol. While this development is aimed for completion by 2023, Argentine officials are investigating a similar initiative, the digital ID project Worldcoin, due to concerns over data privacy.
Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, is taking a significant stride towards unifying its civil service using blockchain technology. As of October, the city's 15 million inhabitants will be able to access their identity papers through a digital wallet, as revealed on September 28. Initial documents to be accessible through the blockchain include birth certificates, marriage certificates, proof of salary, and educational certification. The statement highlights that medical data and payment control will be added later, and a strategy for the nationwide introduction of the blockchain-focused solution will be devised by the end of 2023.
Web3 corporation Extrimian has constructed QuarkID, the digital identity protocol, which forms the backbone of this project. QuarkID wallets leverage zkSync Era, an Ethereum scaling protocol utilizing zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups). This technique enables one party to authenticate a claim to another without revealing any pertinent details about the claim itself.
Guillermo Villanueva, CEO of Extrimian, stated “This is a landmark progression towards a secure and effective future for public services in Latin America." The data held in the wallets will be self-governed, allowing residents to oversee their credential delivery during transactions with the government, enterprises, and other individuals. Blockchain program, zkSync Era, will be the consolidation layer for QuarkID, verifying that each individual possesses the appropriate credentials.
The Buenos Aires city and the Argentine government foresee their digital identity framework as a communal advantage. Diego Fernandez, Buenos Aires’ secretary of innovation, stated that the city is the first in Latin America, and among the first worldwide, to adopt and back this innovative technology, and establish a precedent for its adoption in neighboring countries for the public's welfare.
Argentine officials are examining an analogous venture in the nation, the digital ID initiative Worldcoin. In August, local rulers initiated an inquiry concerning privacy issues associated with Worldcoin's data collection, storage, and usage practices. Following its global introduction in July, Worldcoin is also being closely inspected in Europe and Africa. Co-founder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, founded the project and uses retinal scans to authenticate users.
Published At
9/28/2023 6:07:30 PM
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