Miami to Launch Decentralized Air Quality Monitor on Algorand

Miami is partnering with PlanetWatch to create a network of air quality monitors throughout the city, built on Algorand.

Miami to Launch Decentralized Air Quality Monitor on Algorand
Photo by George Pagan III / Unsplash

Miami is considered one of the leading cities in the US in terms of crypto adoption and support.  The city was one of the big winners in terms of software engineering talent in 2020, with many engineers moving out of San Francisco in favor of relocating to Miami.  The mayor has welcomed them with open arms and has generally been a very outspoken proponent of cryptocurrency.  The city is now receiving crypto in the form of MIA CityCoin, paying city employees who opt in with Bitcoin. Miami has also played host to some of the largest Bitcoin conferences in the world.

Miami is now taking its adoption of crypto a step further by partnering with a French company, PlanetWatch, to launch a city-wide network of devices that monitor air quality and publish the data to the Algorand blockchain.  The goal is to find and mitigate pollution hotspots, and to add more data to Miami’s environmental analytics.

PlanetWatch will be rewarding individuals who host these sensors with in-app tokens and other rewards through the network.  PlanetWatch uses Algorand because of its scalability, security, and carbon-negative footprint.  Some estimates say air pollution shortens human lifespan by up to 3 years.  Miami is a city of nearly 450,000 residents, which means solving the air pollution problem could lead to ~1.3m more years of life across all of their residents.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was quoted saying: “The data from this project will play a crucial role in our climate adaptation efforts as well as our ambitions to make Miami an epicenter for digital capital markets."