Following Vladimir Putin's landslide victory in the recent Russian presidential elections, which many described as a predetermined and lacking legitimacy, exiled opposition leader Mark Feygin is spearheading an initiative to allow Russians to anonymously record a “protest vote” against Putin using blockchain technology.
The referendum organized by Feygin, a man wanted locallywhile lacking legal authority in Russia, aims to bolster efforts to challenge Putin's presidency and provide Russians with a way to express dissent in a country where the consequences of opposition can be severe. This is particularly relevant following the recent death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny while imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony.
Voting will take place using the Russia2024 app, powered by Rarimo's Freedom Tool, which uses the Arbitrum blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography to ensure voters' identities remain untraceable. Russian passport holders only, estimated at around 34.6 millionwill be eligible to participate.
To vote, users will need to download the Russia2024 app and verify their citizenship by scanning their passport, which contains a biometric chip used to confirm the voter's identity and facilitate anonymous voting. Supporters of the app are confident in the security of the voting process and believe voters need not fear repercussions.
Voting in the shadow of the war in Ukraine
Freedom Tool co-founder Lasha Antadze, who holds Ukrainian and Georgian passports and has previously collaborated with the Ukrainian government on the digitalization of public property privatization, highlighted the decentralized nature of the electoral system, saying he is designed to resist attacks, blocking, or elimination.
Although the Russia2024 app was initially removed from the Apple App Store, it is expected to be reinstated and is currently available on the Google App Store.
The referendum comes at a time when Putin's victory should give him the means to continue Russia's war against Ukraine. Antadze emphasized that the technology behind the app is open source and has received contributions from anonymous cryptography professors in Russia, describing it as a form of “wartime defense technology.”
Beyond the Russian context, Antadze believes that this technology has the potential to ensure authenticity and significantly reduce the cost of election-related voting exercises in other countries as well:
We distribute open source technology to everyone. These are not just Ukrainian or Georgian constructions. (…) We received many contributions through anonymous letters from cryptography professors in Russia. It is a kind of wartime defense technology.
The report follows an investigation conducted in late 2023 suggesting that the hack of crypto exchange FTX may have ties to Russia.