Buenos Aires launches QuarkID, a digital id service utilizing ZK proofs

• Buenos Aires has launched a digital id service referred to as QuarkID that makes use of zero-knowledge proofs.
• The service allows privateness by verifying paperwork with out revealing private information.
• QuarkID will develop nationally, with pilots in different Argentinian areas underway.

The town of Buenos Aires has unveiled a groundbreaking digital id service referred to as QuarkID, aimed toward enhancing residents’ privateness by means of superior cryptographic expertise often called zero-knowledge proofs.

Built-in into the miBA app, a platform that has facilitated entry to municipal providers for the previous seven years, QuarkID seeks to offer roughly 3.6 million porteños higher management over their private data.

Zero-knowledge proofs enable customers to confirm the authenticity of paperwork with out revealing pointless private information. As an example, residents can verify their age when buying alcohol with out disclosing their full birthdate or tackle.

This strategy is designed to empower residents by offering a self-sovereign id system that prioritizes privateness and safety. “The choice from the start was to create a self-sovereign id system in order that residents can have privateness and safety over the paperwork they purchase possession of,” acknowledged Diego Fernandez, Buenos Aires’ secretary of innovation and digital transformation.

Whereas zero-knowledge proofs can perform independently of blockchain expertise, QuarkID makes use of the Ethereum layer-2 community ZKsync Period, which serves as a “safety anchor.” This ensures that information might be confirmed to exist in a selected type at a selected time, thereby decreasing the danger of id theft and fraud.

Customers can add greater than 60 sorts of paperwork, together with delivery certificates and vaccination information, with extra paperwork anticipated to be added within the coming months. Importantly, no third celebration, together with the municipality, has management over these paperwork, considerably mitigating the danger of information breaches.

The initiative guarantees to cut back prices for the federal government in comparison with conventional strategies of doc administration, and the pilot program is about to develop past Buenos Aires to areas like Jujuy and Tucumán, in addition to small cities similar to Luján de Cuyo.

Fernandez emphasised the potential for nationwide scaling, stating that expertise developed in Buenos Aires might be carried out all through Argentina and even in different Latin American international locations, similar to Uruguay.