Democratic Countrys Vote for Earnings Georgia to Introduce ZK Digital Governance Protocol Taiwans TAIVote in Close Pursuit
Georgia, a Central Asian country, is about to hold parliamentary elections on October 26. Giorgi Vashadze, an opposition party member, has introduced the use of zero-knowledge proof blockchain identity authentication protocol called Rarimo at this time. The protocol aims to integrate national ID cards into the blockchain. In fact, similar issues, including Proof of Personhood (PoP) and digital governance, have long been topics of discussion for Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and others. Solutions to similar issues, such as Worldcoin, zkPass, zkMe, and the recently mentioned zkKYC by OKX, have also been proposed.
To explain zero-knowledge proof simply, it is a cryptographic technique. For example, if I want to prove to a bank that I have a job, but I don’t want to disclose my specific job, zero-knowledge proof can prove that something has occurred without revealing personal information. Due to their privacy features, many PoP-related applications use zero-knowledge proof to protect sensitive information.
According to reports, the opposition party United National Movement (UNM) alliance in Georgia has partnered with Rarilabs to launch the blockchain identity authentication protocol Rarimo. Rarilabs is the development organization behind Rarimo, which is a privacy-centric zero-knowledge (ZK) blockchain protocol that establishes United Space. United Space is part of UNM’s digital administration vision and will be used not only to streamline government services but also to promote experiments in universal basic income.
Given the increasing problem of foreign interference in the country, United Space provides a surveillance-free and tamper-proof voting mechanism to address these issues. The protocol allows citizens to participate in elections anonymously, ensuring the protection of their privacy and reducing the risk of voter manipulation. This innovative approach differs greatly from traditional voting methods, enhancing the security and transparency of the electoral process.
Giorgi Vashadze stated, “By using zero-knowledge proof to verify the eligibility and identity of voters, we can enable broader participation and bring more transparency and trust to the legislative process.” Giorgi Vashadze refers to this as digital democracy or liquid democracy, which means that if you don’t like a decision made by an official, you can retract your vote and support and transfer it to someone else.
To address Georgia’s low voter turnout, United Space has established a voter reward system where citizens receive rewards not only for voting but also for participating in civic activities. For example, voting on legislative referendums can earn citizens points that can be exchanged for the country’s currency, lari.
Giorgi Vashadze stated that if UNM wins the election and forms a government, they plan to use this protocol as a way to involve the people in governance. The platform will display laws or draft bills and allow protocol users to vote on them. Giorgi Vashadze envisions a system where a certain percentage of citizen approval is required before a draft bill is submitted to the parliament.
However, whether this protocol will be implemented in the country depends on the election on October 26. Although UNM has promised to use the protocol for governance if elected, there are currently no detailed technical documents available, and its status as a hype topic depends on further developments.
In a similar vein, legislator Ke Ju-Jun also attended an event held by Worldcoin in San Francisco yesterday and announced that his office would collaborate with Sam Altman and Alex Blania to promote a new project for citizen participation in the AI era, focusing on digital equality, technology against fraud, and real-person privacy verification. This project will be developed by the Treasure Office team, and Ke Ju-Jun stated that he will make efforts to promote international cooperation between the World ID real-person voting platform TAIVote and World App.
PoP: Proof of Personhood
UBI: Universal Basic Income
ZK: Zero-Knowledge
Digital Governance
