On April 25, the Utah GOP convention reportedly picked their nominees using the blockchain voting platform, Voatz. This platform was previously criticized for numerous security issues in preceding election events. As Forbes reported, the co-founder and CEO of Voatz, Nimit Sawhney, stated that the platform “performed as expected” and managed to process 93% of registered delegate votes. Voatz reportedly a success in Utah GOP convention Utah’s GOP chairman, Derek Brown, praised the app, stating that the feedback received was overwhelmingly positive, and the turnout was phenomenal, beating other conventions that applied the system. Brown added the following regarding Voatz: “Using …

There is an effort underway to roll out a blockchain voting app in time for November elections. A voting app is being developed by WinterGreen Research and Government Blockchain Association, or GBA, which uses blockchain technology to “make fraud detectable”. COVID-19 will drive adoption Susan Eustis, President of WinterGreen Research told Cointelegraph that she expects COVID-19 to accelerate its adoption: “We anticipate that the digital voting app will roll out quickly, just as the telemedicine market was eclipsed by virtual care delivery from Cisco WebEx and Zoom. Physicians went from doing 200 televisits per year to 36,000 per week within …

As shelter-in-place orders are extended throughout the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic, controversy around online voting systems has surfaced. The dangers of internet voting were recently publicly announced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. On April 9, the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues wrote an open letter to U.S. governors, secretaries of state and state election directors expressing great concern regarding the security of online voting systems. While the letter stated that “internet voting is not a secure solution for voting in the United States, nor will it be in …

With images from the Wisconsin democratic primary flooding the internet this week showing voters braving hail and cold weather in the middle of a pandemic, Americans may be looking for a better way to vote from home. Unfortunately, according to one scientific association in the U.S., there may not be a safe way to do it with their smartphones just yet. In an open letter dated April 9 to Governors, Secretaries of State and State Election Directors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues urged officials to not allow internet voting …

Block.one, the company that developed the backend of the EOS network, is now taking a much more active role in it. Its stake of EOS tokens, previously left unused, will be used to vote for block producers (BP), according to an April 8 announcement. The EOS network runs on EOSIO, a blockchain technology stack that Block.one also sells as an enterprise solution. The public network uses a form of distributed Proof-of-Stake consensus (dPoS), where blocks are created by entities voted by all stakeholders. Block.one also holds a stake of EOS tokens, calling itself a “silent minority token holder.” The EOS …

For the first time in its history, bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure firm HackerOne has kicked a company off its platform. Blockchain-based voting company Voatz has long touted its bug bounty program through HackerOne when asked about the security of its blockchain-enabled mobile voting app. Founded in 2012, HackerOne connects businesses with pen testers and cybersecurity researchers. It has hosted over 1,800 customer programs, but the beleaguered Massachusetts-based company’s bug bounty is no longer one of them. “As a platform, we work tirelessly to foster that mutually beneficial relationship between security teams and the researcher community,” HackerOne spokesperson Samantha Spielman …

Students enrolled in the University of Malta’s Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies masters program have built a decentralized application (Dapp) that has been used for voting in upcoming student representative elections, per a March 28 press release. The Dapp is built on top of a decentralized digital identity platform that was provided to the students by Vodafone. The election was the first live project to be executed using Vodafone’s digital identity platform. “We are pleased to have been the first use-case for the Vodafone [digital identity] platform, and as far as we can tell a world first to hold a …

As fears of disinformation and election tampering take hold of citizens across the globe, many are left to wonder if there’s a solution that can quell voter concerns. A recent study by global communications firm Ketchum found growing distrust among individuals around voting machines (59%), issues with voter databases (60%), interference through technology (63%) and the influence of social media (61%). In the United States, this year’s Iowa Democratic Party caucuses left voters frustrated when a voting app resulted in incorrect and wholly unreliable results. Delays ensued, and a candidate prematurely proclaimed himself the winner, which led to questions as …

Voatz, the Massachusetts-based company touting a blockchain-enabled mobile voting app, has been met with public criticism for a lack of transparency, among other things, particularly when it comes to data security. And with the threat of election tampering, the stakes are as high as ever. Voatz has been used in elections in West Virginia; Jackson County, Oregon; Umatilla County, Oregon; municipal elections in Utah County, Utah; as well as in runoff elections and municipal elections in Denver, Colorado. The public security audit by a reputable third-party firm that experts have been calling for is here at last. In December 2019, …

So, how high is Bitcoin about to go? Analyst Willy Woo thinks it’s going to hit $135,000. It’s a “common-sense prediction” he told RT’s Keiser Report. Tim Draper is betting even higher. The venture capitalist has moved his money out of the stock market (too “frothy”) and put it into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies (a “safe haven.”) He expects BTC to reach $250,000 in 2022 or the start of 2023. It’s no wonder that so many Bitcoin whales continue to hodl. According to one study, only 41.6 percent of BTC supply moved over the last twelve months. Some 42 percent …

On Feb. 27, West Virginia decided against using blockchain-based platform Voatz for residents with disabilities and citizens residing abroad to cast their votes in the state’s upcoming primary election. Instead, citizens will vote using a platform offered by Democracy Live. The platform allows voters to either fill out a ballot or print and post it. Democracy Live and Voatz share entrepreneur Bradley Tusk as an investor. Democracy Live is already in use for disabled voters in the state of Washington, and select counties in California and Ohio. MIT audit reveals security concerns regarding Voatz West Virginia’s decision to ditch Voatz …

Computer scientist Ronald Rivest has said that blockchain is not the right technology for voting, although it can find proper application in a number of other areas. Rivest delivered his opinion at the RSA Security Conference, held in San Francisco earlier this week, technology-focused news outlet ITWire reported on Feb. 28. Rivest — who is a cryptography expert and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — called voting an interesting problem that requires a more stricter approach compared to many existing security applications. He said: “Blockchain is the wrong security technology for voting. I like to think of …