In a significant move towards modernizing citizen services, the city of Buenos Aires is set to introduce a blockchain-based and open-source digital identity protocol called QuarkID next month. This initiative aims to streamline access to public services for Buenos Aires citizens and represents a pioneering step in Latin America's adoption of blockchain technology. QuarkID is being developed in collaboration with Extrimian, a digital identity solutions firm, and Matter Labs, the company behind the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain zkSync Era.

With QuarkID, Buenos Aires residents will be able to download a native wallet to access essential personal documents such as birth and marriage certificates. This protocol is designed to uphold the principle of self-sovereignty, granting individuals complete control over their personal data. Although the initial offering will be limited, the Buenos Aires government plans to gradually introduce various official credentials.

Starting in November, citizens will have the capability to retrieve proof of income and academic attendance certificates, which are vital documents for benefits claims, directly from their digital wallets.

For the initial rollout, Buenos Aires residents will be required to undergo existing biometric know-your-customer procedures to verify their identity and create a QuarkID wallet.

The complete roadmap for QuarkID, expected to be unveiled by the end of the year, aims to extend this service to more than 2.5 million users by expanding the list of available credentials, as stated in the official announcement.

Diego Fernandez, Secretary of Innovation of the Buenos Aires City Government, described this initiative as a digital trust framework that serves as a "public good" and positions Buenos Aires as a pioneering city in Latin America and worldwide for integrating and promoting this new technology.

The QuarkID wallet, built on Matter Labs' technology stack, leverages zkSync Era's blockchain framework for secure document storage. ZkSync Era plays a crucial role as the settlement layer for the QuarkID platform, ensuring the proper ownership and security of each stored document.