A small town in rural Argentina has decided to invest in cryptocurrency mining equipment to raise money to pay for improved rail service and fight inflation.
Ambito said the initiative is being led by a group led by Juan Pio Drovetta, mayor of Serodino, a town of 6,000 in the department of Iriondo, in Argentina’s Santa Fe province.
Like many rural communities in Argentina, Serodino has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, as well as months of rising inflation, as well as its own economic downturn.
The Argentine government reported last year that trains returned to the train station last year for the first time in 33 years. But after more than three decades of disuse, the facilities are still basic, and Drovetta has spoken of cities’ desire to join commuter lines connecting key cities.
And in order to finance all this and other improvements of the city of Serodino, he turned to crypto-mining. Together with local businessmen, the city has made an initial investment in six video cards and will soon buy a mining rig.
The mayor said the move was an initial pilot project and was made with the direct support of the city’s residents. He added that the city has been working on and researching this for some time now, and that the community is investing in the future and knowledge.
Initially, the mayor added, the city expects to receive between $540 and $624 worth of coins per month depending on market prices, indicating that the city will be looking to sell the tokens it has mined rather than hold on to them. He did not specify which crypto asset the hardware will be used to mine.
He also stated that 100% of the money raised will be used to pay for projects that benefit the city.
When asked if he thought the move was a risk, the mayor replied:
We do not buy cryptocurrencies and do not seek to profit from speculative activities, as a result of which we [либо] win [или проигрываем]. What we will do is generate cryptocurrencies, so we will always win.
The mayor dismissed questions about the legality of the process, saying there are no rules regarding what his city does.
But he indicated that the city will seek to pay taxes on its income, noting that he is working with university accounting professors in Rosario to help them understand how the city should pay taxes on mining-related income.
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