Rapid
The County of Santa Cruz put aside his ambitious blockchain portfolio project after two years, citing complexity and low public adoption. Officials now plan to continue simpler digital tools which, according to them, are better suited to the needs of residents.
The County of Santa Cruz discreetly abandoned an ambitious plan to build a Blockchain digital portfolio for residents to store permits and other government documents. Once presented by local leaders as well as a bleeding potential, the program attracted few users and technology was too complex, officials said.
As initially presented by the former Comté supervisor, Zach Friend, in 2022, the integration of blockchain technology into local government offers was considered something that could increase the equity and accessibility of the county of Santa Cruz, open avenues for cryptocurrency and place the county before the public sector technological curve.
Facility by a friend, the county agreed to contract with Humbl Inc., a financial technology startup based in San Diego specializing in blockchain and investment in digital assets. The company proposed to work without salary on the pilot program to develop the new County mobile application, MySCCOUNTY +, and a digital portfolio where residents could store their county permits and registrations.
“No other local government in California is also dedicated to taking advantage of the power of technology to serve residents,” said Friend at the time.
In the end, however, it was too complicated. The pilot program ended in April and Tuesday, the supervisor advice quietly received a memo that the county staff preferred to abandon their blockchain activities.
Tammie Weigl, Director of Comté information technologies, told Lookout that the county had sought to develop a digital portfolio for documents such as parking sign for recreational vehicles, bicycle recordings, over-the-counter planning permits and passing the swimming club. However, she said that her team had found that the blockchain, which is an advanced system to record and verify digital information such as documents and transactions, was too complex for these purposes. The technology finally represented a Ferrari, when the residents of the County of Santa Cruz “really need this simple toyota”.
“Tammie Weigl obtaining a swimming pass and making sure that the pass really belongs to Tammie Weigl does not really require blockchain,” she said.
Despite the pilot program that lasts two years, the digital portfolio offered on the County MySCCOUNTY + Application has never extended beyond allowing residents to store parking permits for VR on their mobile devices. And, Weigl said: “Only five to 10”, people really used it.
Neither the representatives of Humbl Inc. nor a friend responded to requests for comments.
Weigl has said that the county is likely to close its MySCCOUNTY + application and to return to the use of the Standard MySCCOUNTY (NO +) application, which, among other things, allows residents to report nests-of-poule.
However, Weigl finally described the experience of success because it led the county to see that a digital portfolio, although much simpler, would be useful for residents.
“There may be a future lack and need for this type of technology,” said Weigl, especially if residents can one day transport more sensitive documents, such as a digital version of a driving license. “But we have more immediate needs. People would like to be able to go to the Simpkins Swim Center and carry a pass on their phone. If we can have this technology, it is a victory for our residents and that’s where we see the appetite for a digital county wallet.”
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