Argentinian town to invest in crypto mining to fight inflation and upgrade infrastructure

The town of Serodino in Argentina’s Santa Fe Province could begin to mine crypto in a bid to raise the money needed for its rail infrastructure upgrade. Its mayor doesn’t see any risk in mining the digital currencies that can be sold immediately. 

As the local media reported on April 10, the town of 6000 people has already purchased six graphics cards and will be buying a mining rig in the nearest future. According to Sorradino’s mayor Juan Pio Drovetta, the initiative to mine cryptocurrencies was supported by the local community.

Like many other rural towns in Argentina, Sorradino was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting inflation, and struggles to pay for an upgrade of its railroad infrastructure, which came back in use for the first time in 33 years last year. The upgrade will also aim at rails expenditure connecting Sorradino with the key cities nearby. 

Drovetta estimated the monthly income that the town’s prospective mining operation would generate to be in the region of several hundred U.S. dollars. The mayor didn’t specify which coins will be mined in Sorradino. In his comments regarding the possible risks of crypto assets' price volatility, he emphasized that while no direct purchase of crypto is planned, mining stays a safe investment option:

"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."

Drovetta also underlined that the town is planning to pay taxes from its mining income, having already done necessary research on the matter. 

Should it kick off its mining operation, Serodino could set a unique precedent of a direct community investment in crypto mining. It is much more common to witness the institutionalized mining players purchasing power capacities in small towns (like Bitmain in the Texan town of Rockdale) or even central governments planning to construct mining cities from scratch, as in the famous Salvadoran project of “Bitcoin City”.