Scotland Turns to Blockchain for Independence Debate

Secure and transparent blockchain-based voting could help find a solution to the hotly debated issue of whether Scotland should be independent of the United Kingdom.

Voting for change, on the surface, appears to be a democratic way to make a decision. However, citizens in some countries may have lost trust in their governments whether due to corruption or just inefficient and outdated processes. Blockchain technology can help.

Live Bitcoin News recently reported how the African country of Kenya would use the technology for their elections. A city in Japan has also tried their hand at blockchain-based voting and now its Scotland’s turn. According to The National, residents in the country will be able to use blockchain technology to answer that question – should Scotland become an independent country?

Scotland Breaking New Ground

The innovative initiative was made possible through a collaboration between blockchain-based ClearPoll and the YesDayScotland media platform. The latter stated:

Scotland’s government has already confirmed that the future of Scotland’s democracy is to be underpinned with blockchain distributed ledger technology. This was announced in collaboration with Edinburgh’s Wallet Services, the government’s blockchain public infrastructure partner, on July 31.

This is another example showing that governments all over the world are seeing the potential of distributed ledger technology. Its versatility means that it can be used for so much than just cryptocurrencies and streamlining financial processes. The statement continued:

The capabilities for Scotland as defined on an ongoing basis via YesDayScotland’s founder Nicholas Russell, have already been acknowledged in Scotland’s Parliament by MSP Jenny Gilruth. The next phase of global blockchain-powered polling, will incorporate verified citizen identities. That is envisaged as a further game-changer for global polling itself. In considering Scotland’s future, campaigning network Business for Scotland has called in the last few weeks for The Scottish Common Blockchain to be established.

Australia is another country that is actively exploring and using blockchain technology to create more efficient processes. The government also has plans to launch the country’s own blockchain.

The Future of Voting

In addition, the statement went on to discuss how digitizing the voting process makes it more inclusive:

A permanent blockchain democracy platform will firstly render the previous archaic referendum process as obsolete. The platform can gauge national opinions in a totally new, and more relevant way, in a befitting and permanent modernised way. The digital and secured nature of future blockchain-based opinions with verified participant identities, it is hoped, will widen the democratic process for many, whom the paper ballot can leave out.

Voters have until the 30th of October to cast their votes. It is open to citizens currently residing in Scotland who have a smartphone.

Do you think that this vote can really make a difference to the Scottish government’s decision of whether or not to leave the United Kingdom? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Pixabay and Shutterstock.