The National Democratic Institute, New America think tank and BitFury are launching a joint project aimed at using blockchain against corruption in the social and political spheres.
The Blockchain Trust Accelerator Initiative will pick and invest in programmes that are supposed to enhance security and transparency in such areas as governance, land titling and elections. The project will also support ideas for pharmacy, for example, providing safe and timely delivery of vaccines. Conventional technologies have not been able to provide the necessary level of work in these fields, claims Tomicah Tillemann, Bretton Woods II director in New America and co-founder of the initiative, as quoted by Forbes.
“There’s a tremendous amount of capital flowing into blockchain applications in the fintech sector, and that’s fantastic. It’s an indicator of the potential and power of this technology,” says the financier. “But Bitfury, New America, NDI and all of our partners want to ensure that the transformational potential of the blockchain is used to make people’s lives better in addition to making people money.”
One of the most promising directions for blockchain, according to the authors of the project, is developing a voting system. Besides saving voters’ time, it will be super-safe and will eliminate corruption in the field, because information on the blockchain is unchangeable. “The ability to ensure that level of accountability and security in an election process is something the world has never had before,” noted Tillemann.
The idea of blockchain used for voting is popular, and initiatives concerning the development and implementation of such technologies have been appearing recently. As CoinFox reported earlier, a voting machine was developed by Blockchain Technologies Corp. and tested by the Liberal Alliance in Denmark and the European Pirate Party. The Libertarian Party used the technology to count votes at the Texas State Convention, and in Australia, a party is heading for federal elections that wants to manage all voting on legislative issues through the blockchain.
BitFury has earlier launched a land titling blockchain project in the republic of Georgia. According to the company’s CEO Valery Vavilov, apart from increasing the safety of the data, the initiative will also make it possible to do auditing in real time.
Plans for the accelerator were finalised at the recent Blockchain Summit that took place on Sir Richard Branson’s private island Necker and was organised by BitFury. Accelerator co-founder Jamie Smith is Bitfury’s global chief communications officer, while Tillemann joined the company’s board of advisors this March.
The project has already attracted attention of many players, including regulators. Around 50 companies, as well as representatives of the White House, were listed among the participants of the first monthly roundtable of the Initiative.
Andrew Levich
