Small Argentine Town Turns to Crypto Mining to Pay for Improvements
A small town in rural Argentina has decided to invest in crypto mining hardware in a bid to raise money to pay for improved rail connections and “beat inflation.”
Ambito reported that the initiative is being pioneered by a group headed by Juan Pio Drovetta, the Mayor of Serodino, a town of 6,000 residents in the Iriondo Department, in Argentina’s Santa Fe Province.
Like many rural Argentine communities, Serodino has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, as well as months of spiraling inflation, as well as its own economic slowdown.
The town last year saw train services return to its railway station for the first time in 33 years, the Argentinian government reported last year. But after over three decades of disuse, facilities are still basic, and Drovetta spoke of the town’s desire to join commuter lines connecting key cities.
And to fund all this – and other improvements to the town – Serodino has turned to crypto mining. In conjunction with local “businesspeople,” the town has made an initial investment in six graphics cards, and will shortly purchase a mining rig.
The Mayor stated that the move was an initial “pilot” and had been made with the “immediate support” of the town’s residents. He added that the town had been “working on and researching” the move for some time, and that the community was investing “in the future and knowledge.”
Initially, the Mayor added, the town expects to raise up between USD 540 and USD 624 worth of coins per month “depending on market prices” – an indication that the town will seek to sell the tokens it mines, rather than hold onto them. He did not indicate which cryptoasset the hardware would be used to mine.
He also claimed that “100%” of the money raised would be used to pay for projects that benefit the town.
When asked if he thought the move represented a “risk,” the Mayor replied:
“We are not buying cryptocurrencies and looking to make a profit on a speculative move whereby we [either] win [or lose]. What we will be doing is generating cryptocurrencies, so we will always win.”
The Mayor dismissed questions about the legality of the process, stating that there was no regulation that pertained to what his town was doing.
But he did indicate that the town would look to pay taxes on its earnings – noting that it was working with “university professors who specialize in accounting in Rosario,” who would help them understand how the town would need to pay taxes on its mining-related earnings.
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