Key takeaways:
- The Board unanimously implemented digital wallets for official documentation and government services.
- The county intends to provide a formal report and a rollout plan no later than September 2023 after a successful pilot.
One of the most recent governments to adopt and use blockchain-based solutions is the county of Santa Cruz in northern California.
The Board of Supervisors for the County of Santa Cruz met on April 25 and unanimously decided to implement digital wallets for official documentation and government services.
A three-stage pilot program for the white-label digital wallet powered by HUMBL will begin in July 2023, according to the meeting’s final consensus. During the pilot phase, beta testers will be mobile users attempting to access governmental services like bicycle registration and RV parking registration.
Additionally, tracking volunteer hours, issuing building permits over the counter, licensing pets, and registering park facilities are all potential pilot projects. Supervisor Zach Friend, who was involved in the matter for Santa Cruz County, said:
“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 improving equity and access for our community.”
The county intends to provide a formal report and a rollout plan no later than September 2023 after a successful pilot. The Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors and HUMBL started working together on the digital wallet technology infrastructure required to launch a pilot program in April 2022, which marked the beginning of the project’s development.
Local residents’ concerns were revealed in an open discussion forum on the county website, even though local officials are moving forward with the plans for a digital wallet.
One of these commenters, Becky Seinbruner, requested to “suspend further action and progress” on the advancements of the digital wallet. Seinbruner expressed concern over the “inappropriate use and sales of personal data” by the infrastructure provider HUMBL.
The official documents state that during the pilot phase, local officials would evaluate if people have confidence in the underlying technology and know what is going on “under the hood.”
A few days ago, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation filed a complaint against five companies providing AI-related cryptocurrency trading services, alleging that they had offered and sold unqualified securities and made material misrepresentations and omissions to investors.
