Russian opposition voices dissent with blockchain vote

Within the wake of Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in Russia’s latest presidential election, which many have labeled as preordained and missing legitimacy, exiled opposition chief Mark Feygin is spearheading an initiative to allow Russians to anonymously register a “protest vote” towards Putin utilizing blockchain expertise.

The referendum organized by locally wanted man Feygin, whereas missing authorized authority in Russia, goals to bolster efforts to problem Putin’s presidency and supply Russians with a method to specific dissent in a rustic the place the implications of opposition could be extreme. That is particularly pertinent following the latest loss of life of opposition chief Alexei Navalny whereas imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony.

The vote might be carried out utilizing the Russia2024 app, powered by Rarimo’s Freedom Instrument, which makes use of the Arbitrum blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography to make sure voters’ identities stay untraceable. Solely Russian passport holders, estimated at around 34.6 million, might be eligible to take part.

To forged their vote, customers might want to obtain the Russia2024 app and confirm their citizenship by scanning their passports, which comprise a biometric chip used to verify the voter’s identification and facilitate an nameless vote. The app’s backers are assured within the safety of the voting course of and consider that voters needn’t worry repercussions.

Voting within the shadow of the Ukraine battle

Freedom Instrument co-founder Lasha Antadze, who holds passports from Ukraine and Georgia and has beforehand collaborated with the Ukrainian authorities on digitizing state property privatization, emphasised the decentralized nature of the voting system, stating that it’s designed to be immune to assaults, blocking, or elimination.

Whereas the Russia2024 app was initially faraway from the Apple app retailer, it’s anticipated to be reinstated and is presently obtainable on Google’s app retailer.

The referendum comes at a time when Putin’s victory is predicted to supply him with the means to proceed Russia’s battle towards Ukraine. Antadze careworn that the expertise behind the app is open-source and has acquired contributions from nameless cryptography professors inside Russia, describing it as a type of “wartime protection expertise.”

Past the Russian context, Antadze believes that this expertise has the potential to ensure authenticity and considerably scale back the price of election-related voting workout routines in different nations as nicely:

We’re handing out the open-source expertise to everybody. It’s not solely Ukrainians or Georgians constructing. […] We obtained plenty of contributions by nameless letters from cryptography professors inside Russia. It’s a type of wartime protection expertise.

The report follows a late 2023 investigation suggesting that the FTX crypto trade hack may have ties to Russia.