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” in opposition to Putin utilizing blockchain know-how.
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 precise dissent in a rustic the place the implications of opposition will be extreme. That is particularly pertinent following the latest demise of opposition chief Alexei Navalny whereas imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony.
The vote will likely be performed utilizing the Russia2024 app, powered by Rarimo’s Freedom Software, 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, will likely be eligible to take part.
To solid their vote, customers might want to obtain the Russia2024 app and confirm their citizenship by scanning their passports, which include a biometric chip used to substantiate the voter’s identification and facilitate an nameless vote. The app’s backers are assured within the safety of the voting course of and imagine that voters needn’t worry repercussions.
Voting within the shadow of the Ukraine warfare
Freedom Software 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 at the moment obtainable on Google’s app retailer.
The referendum comes at a time when Putin’s victory is predicted to offer him with the means to proceed Russia’s warfare in opposition to Ukraine. Antadze confused that the know-how behind the app is open-source and has acquired contributions from nameless cryptography professors inside Russia, describing it as a type of “wartime protection know-how.”
Past the Russian context, Antadze believes that this know-how has the potential to ensure authenticity and considerably scale back the price of election-related voting workout routines in different nations as effectively:
We’re handing out the open-source know-how to everybody. It’s not solely Ukrainians or Georgians constructing. […] We received numerous contributions by nameless letters from cryptography professors inside Russia. It’s a sort of wartime protection know-how.
The report follows a late 2023 investigation suggesting that the FTX crypto alternate hack may have ties to Russia.
