South Korea has decided to develop a blockchain-based voting system. Starting from December, the system will be on trial for user responses on national interest surveys. South Korea will be the second East Asian country to try voting on blockchain, as Japan is already trialing the voting technology on “social contribution projects.”
Blockchain Technology Is New Tech for Voting
Blockchain technology was implemented by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, who was also the founder of Bitcoin. The paper introduced a new technology which will make transactions publicly recordable, verifiable, and immutable.
A few regions of governance have already trialed blockchain for voting purposes. Japan is already trying the technology on votes for social contribution projects, and Switzerland’s trial for blockchain voting was a success. West Virginia State has already developed a blockchain app for voting. Now, South Korea will join the list of regions that are trying to use the new tech for voting.
South Korea and Its Stance on Bitcoin
While South Korea limits the use of cryptocurrency, it supports blockchain technology. Back in late August, Bithumb, a South Korean exchange, re-opened after temporarily shutting down registrations due to a June hack. Due to regulations, many considered South Korea to be a region that restricted the use of cryptocurrencies. In January, the government considered a shutdown of cryptocurrency exchanges, but retail investors pushed back with a petition of 280,000 signatures. In June 2018, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that Bitcoin is a legally recognizable asset that can be confiscated by the government.
What Will Happen with Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
We foresee that other governmental regions will soon be approving Bitcoin for tax payments and court penalties. Other than South Korea’s Supreme Court approval of Bitcoin, another example is Ohio state’s approval of Bitcoin for taxes. One also needs to consider Bakkt’s partnership with Starbucks and Microsoft to start using cryptocurrencies as payment. We believe that governments will soon consider Bitcoin and blockchain technology to be the “gold standard” for tracking international payments.
