How Blockchain Could Strengthen Democracy in Countries
Since the emergence of blockchain technology, which allows the creation of decentralized and transparent systems, this technology has been proposed as the basis for new solutions to strengthen aspects of our democracies.
Although the term “democracy” is derived from the Greek words “demos” meaning people and “kratos” meaning power, not most of the countries are supported by a power that comes from the people.
The management of public resources, the media, as well as bureaucratic systems always leave citizens dissatisfied with their honesty and efficiency. In short, it is a latent human demand that citizens need power that really comes from them.
Transparent Electoral Systems with Blockchain
Even in developed countries, there are doubts about electoral systems, so several technocrats propose the creation of blockchain-based electoral systems that would allow transparent and completely unchangeable voting.
There are some cryptographic projects that propose this type of solution, such as Voatz, Agora, and Polis (by Kaspersky). However, blockchain technology is not yet efficient enough to be feasible in a large-scale implementation of large-scale elections.
Blockchain technology could also be useful to increase citizens’ trust in mobile and digital voting systems. Today, citizens are mostly distrustful of these types of election systems.
Blockchain technology, while highly immutable and transparent, also has some flaws that could affect a process. However, the biggest obstacles are not security related, but technical, as mentioned above.
Decentralized Identity
Governments are currently the largest custodians of personal information. However, as people’s data has been digitized, it has been entrusted to people and organizations whose reliability and effectiveness has been unknown.
Today, it is common for large countries to experience massive data breaches and thefts of their people’s information. Worst of all, people have no control over the integrity of their government-managed information.
Blockchain and zero-knowledge technology, however, not only is able to provide identification systems that protect the data of users, but through them, their information would be fully managed and protected by its owners.
Moreover, such secured data would be more reliable. For example, in the case of property records, blockchain can make them more secure and efficient, thus guaranteeing all the rights associated with the properties.
Transparency and Efficiency in Institutions
Bureaucratic institutions and systems in almost all countries are characterized by great inefficiency and non-transparent practices. This is a major problem, as they are not only necessary entities for citizens, but also difficult to control and manage.
In the face of these problems, blockchain or decentralized networks, along with other emerging technologies such as AI, promise to make institutions transparent and free citizens from the clutches of inefficient and corrupt bureaucrats. It also allows users to identify which elements, people, and systems fail within an agency.
More Practical and Transparent Financial Systems
Although blockchain technology has mostly advanced in the creation of decentralized and innovative financial systems, it has done very little when it comes to the state level.
There are only a few examples, such as the legalization of bitcoin as legal tender by El Salvador, and a few state currencies in creation or experimentation.
Although governments and central banks tend to think of digital currencies as completely state-controlled systems, blockchain offers the possibility of creating inclusive financial systems that eliminate some of the disadvantages of state money.
By Leonardo Perez