A bill that seeks to regulate the activities of companies that scan the eyes of their users, like Worldcoin, has been recently introduced in Buenos Aires. The law aims to protect the app users’ rights and help them to secure and determine the destination of the biometric data collected by these entities. Eye Scanning Bill […]
Bitcoin News
Latam Insights: Brazil Bans Crypto for Gambling, Worldcoin Battles Buenos Aires
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: Brazil bans the use of cryptocurrency for gambling-related payments, and Worldcoin faces fines for alleged abusive behavior in Buenos Aires. Brazil Passes Rules Banning Cryptocurrency Payments for Gambling Brazil has legalized the use […]
Bitcoin News
Worldcoin Rejects Buenos Aires’ Claims Regarding Abusive User Contract Clauses
Worldcoin, the digital biometric identification project, has rejected the claims made by Buenos Aires regarding possible infringements of customer protection laws. The organization told local sources that it answered Buenos Aires’ requirements since January to show the transparency it exercises in its operations. Worldcoin might face a deeper investigation if a local proposal gets approved. […]
Bitcoin News
Worldcoin Faces Over $1 Million in Fines in Buenos Aires for Legal Violations
Worldcoin, the biometric iris scanning digital ID organization, is being accused by the government of Buenos Aires of several transgressions, including contradictions regarding the treatment of users’ digital information. Buenos Aires considers that the company exposes users to several unfair clauses, including those describing the possible interruption of the service. Worldcoin Faces Over Million […]
Bitcoin News
Buenos Aires to Bring Blockchain-Based Digital ID to Millions of Citizens
The city of Buenos Aires has announced that it will roll out a blockchain-based, privacy-focused digital ID wallet starting in October. The Quarkid project, previously known as Tangoid, will allow its users to download a “self-sovereign” wallet to hold their birth and marriage certificates, with more digital documents to be added later this year.
Buenos Aires to Roll Out Blockchain-Based ID Program
The City of Buenos Aires government announced the deployment of a digital, blockchain-based “self-sovereign” ID project for its citizens. The wallet, called Quarkid, formerly known as Tangoid and scheduled to be operating by last January, will supposedly allow its users to exert full ownership of their data, granting only trusted and permissioned third parties access.
The Quarkid wallet will use Zksync Era, a zero-knowledge (ZK) Ethereum L2 (Layer 2) protocol, as its base, allowing the use of this kind of mathematical proof for privacy and confidentiality purposes. Quarkid was co-created by Extrimian, an Argentine institutionally focused blockchain services company, which aims to extend this service to the whole country.
On the significance of this move, Extrimian CEO Guillermo Villanueva stated:
This is a monumental step towards a safer and more efficient future for government services in Latin America. Quarkid creates a closer relationship between a government and its citizens while also bringing digital identity practices and security standards to Latin America.
Document Availability and Future
The first phase of the rollout of Quarkid will start in October, with the government of Buenos Aires allowing citizens to claim basic documents, including birth and marriage certificates. However, later this year, in November, citizens of Buenos Aires will be able to claim documents like proof-of-income and academic verification using their Quarkid wallets. At the end of this year, the government will design a roadmap to expand its services to more than 2.5 million citizens.
Diego Fernandez, Secretary of Innovation of Buenos Aires and one of the supporters behind the idea of digital identity, explained that with this innovation, the city would “set the standard for how other countries in the region should use blockchain technology for the benefit of their people.”
Furthermore, Quarkid hopes to extend its implementation to all 45 million citizens in Argentina eventually. From there, it aims to use this experience as a launchpad for a potential collaboration with the market in Latin America.
What do you think about Quarkid and the adoption of digital identity in Buenos Aires? Tell us in the comments section below.
Buenos Aires’ “Crypto Building,” Innovation Or Marketing Ploy? Here’s The 411
The Next Pampa 2.0 will be the world’s first “Crypto Building”. In the basement, there’ll be a bitcoin mining farm that will help pay for all the upkeep a modern building needs. They also plan to show NFTs in the lobby and whatnot. Is the real state project just trying to be “the world’s first” at something? Or are the builders on to something here?
The crypto building’s construction will begin in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, in Q2 2022. It will have “more than 100 apartments, with either 2, 3, or 4 bedrooms, and many of them have already been pre-sold” at around 0K for a 2-bedroom one. Does that price get you a share of a bitcoin mining operation for as long as you keep a property in the crypto building? That’s what it sounds like.
According to Interesting Engineering, the Next Pampa 2.0 “can be described as a 24-floor “smart” building with a Bitcoin mining farm in its basement, the objective of which is to generate an income for the building’s operations, allowing it to cover the cost of the edifice’s maintenance and upkeep —and savings its residents the costs of having to do so themselves.” It’s worth noting that the crypto building “will also display different pieces of NFT art as decoration in its lobby.” So, it’s not a bitcoin-only project.
What About Bitcoin’s Volatility?
To address the volatility issue, the publication consults with Damian Lopo, the Next Pampa 2.0’s main project developer. He knows what to do. “To deal with this, the plan is to calculate an average price for the Bitcoin over the last 12 months and use that average price to scale the mining farm in a way that theoretically will allow the mining operation to cover 100% of the cost of the building’s expenses.”
Also, David Farías, the CEO of Landium, the real estate agency behind the Next Pampa 2.0 thinks that the bitcoin mining operation will generate more than the building needs. “The surplus could then be distributed among the residents; the crypto building could end up “paying residents” for living in it. “It’s a way of giving back to our customers,” said Landium’s CEO.”
BTC price chart for 06/02/2022 on Eightcap | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
The Crypto Building ’s Solar Panels
In some aspects, Argentina is good soil for the crypto building. For example, in the capital, the government subsidizes energy, and is thus cheap. In some other aspects, the bitcoin mining strategy might prove to be erroneous. “There are currently no laws regarding crypto mining, but Damián Lopo doesn’t rule out that possibility”. Argentina recently signed a deal with the IMF in which they promised to slow down crypto adoption in the country.
On the other hand, there are ESG risks. Some people think that bitcoin is not worth the effort and that participants in the network shouldn’t be allowed to use electricity. However, they ignore the subtle relationship that exists between bitcoin and green energy. They always show up hand in hand.
In this case, “Damián Lopo expects Next Pampa 2.0’s expenses to be up to 50% lower — as the building will be powered by solar panels in its totality, from LED lights in common spaces to pre-heating systems to heat the water that residents will use.” Green energy will power all that plus the bitcoin mining. Great, but, what’s the fundamental difference between the crypto building and a normal building with bitcoin home miners among the tenants?
Featured Image by Nestor Barbitta on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView
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