The DIDI or Digital Identity for Inclusion project, promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the NGO Bitcoin Argentina, started two digital identity plans based on blockchain in Argentina.
The initiative will be carried out specifically in the province of Misiones in the north of the South American nation and in the municipality of General Pueyrredon , located in the province of Buenos Aires. The intention of the project is to develop decentralized digital identities for people in vulnerable situations in the country.
According to the director of the DIDI Project, Javier Madariaga to a local environment, the project not only guarantees a secure and private administration of personal information, but also generates a significant reduction in transaction costs and verification of information .
“These are some of the factors that generate significant frictions in access to goods and services in modern societies,” he explained.
DIDI began with a pilot plan in 2019 through the ai · di application, in the Barrio Padre Mujica, in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The objective was to guarantee the identification of the inhabitants of the neighborhood , recognizing their capacities to undertake. The city of Mar del Plata is also included as part of the plan.
Implications in the use of blockchains
In Misiones, the door to innovation was opened by the hand of blockchains, with the approval of the Missionary Financial Innovation Program With Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency, last July, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
With this law, the local government will be able to use blockchains legally. Based on the legislation, which must be approved by the Senate of the province, they plan to launch a stablecoin, manage the data of the public administration and issue a bond of the economic values that the province grants to the region and the world in the form of environmental contributions.
In this sense, the local authorities together with the DIDI project intend to improve the digitization of information and the adoption of a mobile application call ai · di.
The application is a kind of document holder, which will allow build a digital identity by generating a self-controlled profile in which the user can begin to accumulate credentials (or certificates) on formal and informal, financial and non-financial interactions that they have with public and private entities; as well as with people.
Likewise, the tool will allow you to create a link between the State and citizens in the management of certificates and credentials.
Identity and financial inclusion for agriculture
Since last year the DIDI pilot plan, in Padre Mujica also promoted a financial inclusion project for unbanked people. Currently, more than 450 entrepreneurs who received microcredits from the Semillas program use the application, Madariaga indicated.
«With the encouraging results we had during the pilot experience with the Semillas program, we decided to bet to the growth of technology and to support national organizations interested in implementing new use cases of this digital identity model on blockchain “, added the project director.
In this sense, ai · di also It will allow to assign to agricultural producers of the Gran Chaco some credentials that will allow to verify the progress “in the application of practices that improve their climatic resilience”, indicates the Argentine media.
The objective is that rural producers and local communities can access financial credits , relying on new technologies.
Identity for Latin America and the Caribbean
Last May, CriptoNoticias reported that the DIDI project launched a call to identify the technological projects that they would like to integrate Self-sovereign digital identity for the inclusion of vulnerable populations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The projects presented should be focused on civic inclusion and economic in Latin American countries. This with the idea that public, private and non-profit organizations and institutions that offer financial or social services in the region.
This shows that, in Latin America, cryptocurrencies are considered more than a speculative crypto asset for trading.
In fact, Connie Gallippi, founder of the Bitcoin-based philanthropic initiative, BitGive, explains that in Latin American countries there are different use cases with bitcoin and blockhains, since it is more related to preserving the value of local currencies and dealing with inflation.
