What happens when a government says "yes" to opening national biometrics to banks, fintechs, and telecoms? Argentina found out—becoming only the third country in the world to do so, after Estonia and India. When COVID-19 hit and Argentina's Central Bank still required biometric verification for account opening, this platform became critical infrastructure: powering the Mi Argentina digital wallet for vaccination certificates and circulation permits, while enabling millions to access banking services remotely. Today: 250,000+ verifications per day, with one bank alone driving 24M+ transactions. This session shares the architecture and hard-won lessons—multi-vendor orchestration (NEC, Microsoft, VU), usability testing insights for liveness detection, and governance frameworks that balance openness with privacy.