The Department of State's Department of Motor Vehicles isn't exactly known for its efficiency. However, a new pilot program at the California DMV may change that. The state is now launching a pilot program that will run on Tezos to manage state records on car ownership.
State-managed recordkeeping, such as car ownership and registration, is a vertical that NFT and crypto advocates cite as a major area where blockchain technology could add enormous value. When done right, keeping digital records on-chain with these data can enforce immutability, reduce and optimize the manpower required to record changes and update records, and ideally reduce potential errors in recording changes.
The state of California appears willing to take the risk and is partnering with encryption software company Oxhead Alpha to make this vision a reality. Oxhead Alpha will leverage a specific set of smart contracts on the Tezos blockchain (but not visible on the permissionless, publicly available Tezos chain) to build the product.
In a statement cited in Oxhead Alpha's press release, the state's chief digital transformation officer, Ajay Gupta, said the solutions "will avoid duplication of verification steps for both customers and state/public service entities, reducing effort, economics and Auditability."
California has a statewide record of more than 30 million registered vehicles, providing a true test of the capabilities and capabilities of the ongoing Tezos smart contract. However, the size and scale of the project, and the state's reputation for moving at a "snail's pace" on such execution projects, did not appear to be slowing output as much as had been expected. The initiative is rooted in the state's 2020 "Blockchain Task Force" roadmap, which aims to pave the way for blockchain-based engagement across multiple verticals, such as real estate, utilities, finance and banking, among others . About eight months ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on blockchain-based assets to address regulatory and innovation concerns.
The program is expected to have initial results in early/mid-Q2 2023, and by the end of the year we could have car names as NFTs. A similar pilot project with the state's Department of Food and Agriculture is also expected to launch within the next month, with the aim of better tracking foodborne contamination, effectively moving data around growers and transporters on-chain.
