The city of Serodino, Argentina, will finance improvements to its railway infrastructure through Bitcoin mining.
Juan Pio Drovetta, president of the town of Serodino, has found a financial solution in Bitcoin mining. As a local leader, Drovetta reported that he will use Bitcoin mining cryptocurrencies, to boost the economic development of the city. The initiative will help Serodino to generate economic resources on a constant basis, which will be used to finance improvements to its railway infrastructure.
Serodino, says the local newspaper Ambit, is an Argentine community of 6.000 inhabitants that was severely affected by the Covid pandemic, so its local economy is currently facing a crisis.
However, far from the disaster, the complex economic situations that Serodino is going through have driven the city to take refuge in Bitcoin mining as a financial solution.
Drovetta said the city has been researching and analyzing the opportunities offered by Bitcoin mining for some time, which is why it has decided to integrate it into its economic activities.
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Serodino owns 6 graphics cards and will buy Bitcoin miners with the support of entrepreneurs local
The initiative to mine bitcoins in the city has the support of the local community, said Drovetta. Currently, Serodino owns six graphics cards and is planning to acquire new Bitcoin mining equipment to start his operations on the network. The acquisition of this equipment will be financed in partnership with some local entrepreneurs, he said.
Drovetta estimates that the mining rigs will initially be able to generate between 60 and 70 thousand Argentine pesos per month (about $531 and $619 US dollars). The bitcoins mined by the city will be immediately converted to fiat currency, to avoid the typical volatility of the crypto market, and will be used entirely to finance projects in the city through a local institution.
In this way, Drovetta said, “What we will do is generate cryptocurrencies, so we will always win”.
The city is also looking into the regulatory issue and the payment of taxes, as this is a new process and there is no clear legislation for it. Still, the mayor is confident in new technologies to overcome the current economic crisis and finance its future.
Several cities rely on Bitcoin mining
Bitcoin mining has been taking over several cities and towns around the world over the past year.
For example, the city of Panajachel, in Honduras, is taking advantage of its natural resources to mine bitcoins in an environmentally friendly way. In the city, miners are being powered by geothermal energy, coming from volcanoes, just as it happens in El Salvador.
Also, the small town of Lugano, in Switzerland, is including technology blockchain and cryptocurrencies to their financial model.
Lugano will boost Bitcoin mining using renewable energy sources. In addition, the Swiss city is planning to implement crypto assets for the payment of municipal taxes and incentivize the use of bitcoins as a means of payment through Lightning Network. All this to stimulate the creation of a cryptocurrency-based economy, where financial services can be offered to citizens in a direct, secure and accessible way.
These initiatives highlight the potential and opportunities that the crypto industry has to offer for the development of new economies.
Generally, it is companies that turn to Bitcoin mining to optimize or diversify their income, as in the case of the oil company ConocoPhilips, which is using crypto mining to reduce its gas emissions into the environment. However, cities and local governments are also beginning to place their trust in this activity as an alternative source of financing.
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