The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, has announced the implementation of blockchain technology and zero-knowledge cryptography for the issuance of digital identities.
According to local media reports, the government disclosed on Oct. 21 that it has integrated the decentralized identity solution QuarkID into its miBA digital platform — the city’s platform for accessing government services and documents.
Since Oct. 1, more than 3.6 million active users of miBA have received decentralized digital identities (DIDs) secured by QuarkID — a digital identity protocol built by Web3 firm Extrimian. The QuarkID wallet is powered by ZKsync Era, an Ethereum scaling protocol using zero-knowledge rollups.
“By giving 3.6 million residents greater control over their personal data, the city is setting a new standard in privacy and security for digital identity management,” according to a translated statement by the Buenos Aires government.
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Buenos Aires has been rolling out blockchain-based initiatives over the past few years. In September 2023, the city announced that birth and marriage certificates would be the first documents available onchain, followed by proof of income and academic records.
“We have seen a lot of blockchain-based innovation in financial services, but this initiative demonstrates blockchain’s potential to revolutionize other use cases, such as government services, by empowering citizens to securely own their data,” said Diego Fernández, secretary of innovation and digital transformation of Buenos Aires.
Data stored in the QuarkID wallets is self-sovereign, enabling citizens to manage credentials when interacting with the government, businesses, and other individuals.
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“By giving residents control over their identities, we are not only improving privacy and security but also laying the foundation for a future where personal data ownership becomes a basic right, protected by advanced cryptographic zero-knowledge proofs,” Fernández continued.
Another recent noteworthy initiative targeted the city’s education system. In August, Buenos Aires integrated Ethereum training into the high school curriculum, offering some students classes in Solidity — a programming language used to build decentralized applications (DApps) on Ethereum.
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