TheCryptoUpdates
Blockchain News

South Korean Government Testing Electoral Voting on Blockchain

South Korean Government Testing Electoral Voting on Blockchain

South Korea, one of the leaders in technological advancements is looking forward to conduct Electoral Voting using Blockchain Technology. They are working to develop a blockchain based online voting platform and the tests have already begun.

Transparency and Security

Many countries in Southeast Asia have been hit by corruption in electoral voting. As such, the essence of democracy is lost and the majority suffer under the rule of a flawed government.

To rip away this problem from its root, Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, and the National Election Commission (NEC) are developing a system that will bring transparency to the whole process of voting. They stated that the system will be developed by the end of the year.

According to reports, NEC had made trials for the same prior to this in 2013. They ran an online voting system, dubbed K-voting. It has since been used by 5.64 million people. The system did not gain much support from the majority as trust remains low due to hacking and fraud concerns.  

The new system being developed will bring transparency and security to the process of voting. User authentication mechanism will be a part of the voting platform. The voters can cast their votes online via a computer or smart-phone. They can even monitor the voting in real time and check its progress.

It was also stated that the Seoul National University’s Blockchain Society and Korea Internet & Security Agency will use the blockchain based system for surveys as a pilot before it can be implemented for electoral voting. As such, it is being ensured that no cracks or crevices remain in the system. It will later be enhanced by introducing new technologies such as AI, Big Data, and IoT.

“The latest system to be developed will apply blockchain in voter authentication and result saving, which will increase transparency and security. Voting will be conducted via mobile and personal computers. Data will be saved on a distributed network and all voters will be able to view voting results as they progress.

Other Examples

Before South Korea, Thailand used a blockchain based voting platform to conduct a recent candidate party election. Nasdaq reported that the Kingdom’s Democrat party used the Zcoin blockchain to register and store votes. Voters registered their transparent votes using a Raspberry Pi or mobile app with photo ID. A leader was then elected after a total of 120,000 votes were cast. Using a distributed ledger, Thailand ensured that corruption would not make its way through into their voting system again. The country has been in the hands of military dictatorship for over four years. The prime reasons have been rampant vote buying and corruption.

Other than South Korea, the e-vote system was recently tested in Zug, the crypto-valley of Switzerland, as well as in Japan. News has arrived that just today a voting system was tested at the Cavour high school in Rome.

Crypto Scene in South Korea

South Korea has been very active in the crypto space. This October, Seoul, the country’s capital, announced that it will create a 100 billion won blockchain fund. The investment will then go into promising start-ups in the sector.

The country took some measured regarding ICO scams but overall has been open and welcoming towards the crypto ecosystem. In April, they propounded their intentions to introduce cryptocurrencies in terms of taxation, thus confirming its legality in the territory. Also, in July, new rules were introduced to safeguard crypto-trading on exchanges.

In February, the country made the announcement that it would not ban cryptocurrency trading. It will of course, increase transparency of transactions to create a safe trading environment. The South Korean government has since raided and arrested executives of some cryptocurrency exchanges suspected for fraud.

The ICON Blockchain

South Korea’s leading blockchain and crypto company ICON recently received the ‘Minister of Science and ICT Award’ as Blockchain Industry Leader in Korea. The award was granted at the ‘2018 Blockchain Grand Week’ held at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Seoul. ICON is the first blockchain to win this award.

The ICON (ICX) cryptocurrency is a part of ICONLOOP and has close ties with the South Korean government. In an announcement made in October, three blockchain projects were showcased by ICON and one of these was a blockchain based voting system used in combination with a blockchain citizen ID card.

It is easy to assume that the new voting system being tested might have been developed by ICON. But nothing is certain unless reports arrive to confirm the assumptions.     

Related Articles

Thailand Revenue Department Trials Blockchain to Track Tax Payments

Akansha Kesarwani

Review of Stellar Lumens: a nonprofit cryptocurrency that has enriched its owners more than 100 times

John Marks

Blockchain News | Spin-off Project RIF Labs acquires Bitcoin Smart Contract Protocol Rootstock

Akansha Kesarwani