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Japan is well known for the development and testing of technology before the rest of the package and now the blockchain is being piloted as a way to modernize local voting systems.
According to local media Japan Times, the city of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture has adopted a new online voting system based on the blockchain
Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, was associated for the first time to cryptocurrencies as the backbone of virtual currency trading including Bitcoin (BTC).
However, technology has many more potential applications than trading virtual resources. The ledger is distributed on a number of nodes that contain a record of the data stored inside the chain, updated in real time, making it very expensive and difficult to tamper with.
Information can be recorded in a generally secure and transparent manner, which means that the distributed ledger technology can have a place in smart contracts and in a variety of financial and legal systems.
In Tsukuba, the city will allow voters to cast their votes on a PC after showing "my card" 12-digit ID number. This number will give them access to the private blockchain and allow them to cast their vote.
Each individual number is then linked to a vote and the information is stamped and stored on the decentralized, peer-to-peer network.
According to the city's website, this should "prevent the tampering of electoral content and confidentiality, and obtain appropriate and efficient votes."
TechRepublic: Blockchain: A cheat sheet
Paper-based voting systems are still the most common way to cast your vote. Estonia was the first country to introduce online voting options, made possible by launching the country's national identity card several years ago
Blockchain looks promising in the field, but there are still challenges from face for those who explore technology as a potential replacement for government elections.
See also: Alleged leader of the BitConnect cryptocurrency scam arrested in Dubai
In Japan, many voters did not remember their password for voting, and it was "hard to say whether a vote was counted . " [19659003] Furthermore, although the blockchain by nature is decentralized, a central authority still needs to be present to ensure that only those authorized to vote can do so – and that requirement will change according to the rules of each individual country.
Read also: The blockchain could be the missing link in the electronic vote? | Electoral Commission exploring how technology can simplify the voting process CNET: The Intel Senate Committee creates a 6-step plan for electoral security
At the start of this week, Google has announced the importation of the Ethereum blockchain into its BigQuery service. The company says that blockchain analysis will improve business decision-making and may be useful to predict when the same Ethereum requires an update.
