Buenos Aires wants to use blockchain for social plans

The Argentine city of Buenos Aires would like to use blockchain technology to make payments related to social plans, or at least that is the bill proposed by one of the city’s lawmakers.

Specifically, it is Senator Dario Nieto, who has introduced a bill to take advantage of blockchain’s traceability and clarify the process behind social plans, which are those funds that are used to plan the social policies of the relevant territory, and allows the city to respond to the needs of the population in the best way possible.

Many intermediaries would process too many fees or use these funds for unauthorized activities, such as marketing.

In this regard, Nieto stated:

“The management of social plans has become a huge apparatus used to do politics, with which the leaders of social movements extort people with abusive practices, such as asking for money returns, a percentage of the plan, going to march and block streets.”

For Nieto, this could be solved with blockchain, so that the funds collected are exactly spent for their intended purpose.

Buenos Aires and blockchain technology

This is not the first time Nieto has spent himself on introducing blockchain or crypto payments within the city of Buenos Aires.

Some time ago, the senator had proposed using the technology to control city spending and contracts.

In the past, there had also been plans to create the so-called “Buenos Aires +,” where citizens would be able to pay taxes using cryptocurrencies as a payment method.

Last April, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the head of the government of Buenos Aires, announced a new plan for the Argentine capital, calling it “Buenos Aires +,” and among the many proposals was to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies, with the aim of creating a more digital and smart city.

Part of the program also includes the creation of a blockchain-based ID system called Tango ID that the city government is working on putting in place by January 2023.

Argentina and the opening toward cryptocurrencies for payments and beyond

Meanwhile, also in Argentina, the western South American province of Mendoza has decided to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for tax payments.

As early as last year, a bill was introduced in Argentina that would have introduced salary payments in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Later, the country’s president hinted that he was open to the idea of adopting Bitcoin and introducing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the country’s central bank.

Moreover, in April 2022 Argentina was considering the use of Bitcoin specifically to curb a seemingly unstoppable inflation rate, somewhat like what had happened in Venezuela.

Unfortunately, however, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic had later declared that it would put a stop to crypto trading, launched only four days earlier by other Argentine banks.