California county uses blockchain-based wallet to streamline processes

Santa Cruz County in Northern California wants to adopt blockchain to streamline government processes.

County officials made the disclosure after a meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. At the meeting, the participants voted for the government to experiment with blockchain-based digital wallets based for public services.

The fallout from their decision led to the launch of a digital wallet pilot project to investigate the viability of the move in partnership with blockchain infrastructure firm HUMBL Inc., which will be responsible for developing the digital wallet with the county office expected to provide an update to the board on developments in September.

The county noted that the digital wallet offers multiple use cases, including bicycle and RV parking registration and emergency notification functionality for users. During the pilot, the county may be willing to investigate the use cases for registering park facilities, licensing pets and distributing building permits without a counter.

“We believe the value of digitizing paper documents, records and services is an important step forward for the convenience of Santa Cruz County residents and to improve equity and access for our community,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend.

Although details of the cost of the pilot were not released, HUMBL Inc. confirmed that it had granted the county an “indefinite license” to use the technology. The firm stated that it would bear the costs arising from hosting-related infrastructure during the pilot period with the county general fund and the internal service fund would take care of county employee time.

Although the project sparked widespread backlash from blockchain enthusiasts, critics have blasted it for alleged privacy violations. However, authorities noted that HUMBL would only have access to “the number of times the app was downloaded” with Apple devices given the option to choose to share the information.

Blockchain makes the Herculean climb

Blockchain is slowly becoming the foundation of public processes around the world. The highest levels of blockchain adoption can be seen in Southeast Asia, with India and the Philippines leading the charge.

India announced that it expects a 46% adoption rate of blockchain adoption before the end of the decade, with municipal and state governments turning to the technology to streamline processes. In the Philippines, blockchain has been used to replace paper documents in the maritime sector, while private firms are taking advantage of the offer to create digital IDs.

Watch BSV Stories – Episode 9: Blockchain technology is more fun in the Philippines

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