The Argentinian blockchain and digital identity DIDI Project will launch two initiatives related to the financial inclusion of rural producers and another addressing digital government management. DIDI is backed by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) innovation laboratory IDB Lab, which operates LACChain, and non-profit Bitcoin Argentina.
In 2020 DIDI launched a mobile app, ai di, that enables users to store economic and civic credentials, as well as social data. The same year, DIDI piloted a project to help people without bank accounts to build their credit score in the Padre Carlos Mugica neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The results from the pilot were promising, and DIDI will be implementing the same technology in the two upcoming projects.
The financial inclusion project will take place in the Gran Chaco region. The ‘ai di’ technology will be adapted to enable farmers in the region to be assigned verifiable credentials about their sustainable practices. These credentials will count towards “climate risk scores”, that can be presented to financial institutions looking to promote access to financial credit for rural producers and communities.
Government technology company OS City and the Cultural Association for Integral Development (ACDI) will also assist in the development of the projects.
The second project aims to improve the adoption of digital wallets and solutions such as ai di for digital identity. The project will be conducted in the province of Misiones, in the city of Mar del Plata.
Misiones just approved a law that permits the use of blockchain technology in government management operations. So, the “Program of Digital Citizens” project will be the first implementation of its kind in Misiones. It has support from the LACChain blockchain.
LACChain is an alliance made up of various actors in the blockchain industry looking to accelerate the development and adoption of blockchain solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has created a public access network based on enterprise blockchain technology. This is not dissimilar to other regional initiatives such as Alastria in Spain, the European Commission’s European Blockchain Services Infrastructure, and China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), which offers low-cost access to various blockchains.
IDB founded and leads the LACChain organization, which sponsors solutions addressing improvements in health, education, and infrastructure.
Besides IDB, LACChain alliance members include Consensys, NTT Data, Block.one and the World Bank.
Last week it was announced that Colombia’s central bank trialed a blockchain bond pilot with IDB. Meanwhile, TCS is developing a blockchain app marketplace across Latin America with LACChain. LACChain’s network was also used to execute a cross-border payment with IDB involving Citi Innovation Labs.
