Project Votecoin is an open source effort to develop a secure, anonymous electronic voting system. We apply technology used in cryptocurrencies to both secure the network and ensure voting will remain free of charge. The Project is designed to be implemented over three distinct phases, with the ultimate goal of creating democratic cryptocracy, a secure online method of governance giving all participants a voice.

We overcome one of the greatest challenges we face by giving coins a practical application beyond use only as currency. The Project is an evolution from cryptocurrenies; we employ a decentralised network of miners help secure the anonymity of the voting network and protect it from attack, and a financial incentive to securing the network is built in to the system.

This open source project is being implemented in three phases.

The first phase establishes the financial incentive for network security by developing Coin as a stable cryptocurrency with a dedicated network of miners. Coin is intended to be used as a currency only, and is distributed to the miners who keep our network safe. The second phase develops the voting infrastructure by issuing a unit of Vote with each new wallet created. Within Votecoin software, Votes are units used to express preferences of users and are divisible. The third phase will bring in user verification to ensure an equal distribution of Votes to users of the system. We aim to implement a decentralised method of anonymous verification in this phase.

Phase 1: Votecoin developed as a stable cryptocurrency with a dedicated team of miners.

Both Coin and Vote transactions will be stored in the same blockchain, and Coin miners will be protecting the stability of Cryptovoters, users of Votes. We first aim for Coin to be adopted by as many users as possible, and to give it a high profile. Increasing the value of Coin is necessary at this stage to incentivise mining, thereby securing our network. A rise in price has been demonstrated to lead to an increase in network mining difficulty, which makes it harder for network security to be compromised. Encouraging more people to use and mine Coin avoids the concentration of mining power and wealth in the hands of a few. Project Votecoin uses the scrypt algorithm for network security in order to let anybody with a computer processor or graphics card to join in and mine. The most effective way to secure the network through incentivising mining at this stage is to encourage use of Coin as a currency by such activities as lobbying exchanges to introduce Coin trading.

Phase 2: A voting unit, Vote, issued with each Vote address created by users. Both Coin and Vote transactions will be recorded and distinguishable in the same blockchain. Integral to this stage is the ability to recall Votes to the user's original address.

Once the Votecoin network has been secured, we will introduce the beta version of Vote and experiment with voting mechanisms. One Vote will be issued to each address created during this trial period, and users will be free to create these addresses. Unlike Coin transactions, each user's Vote will be used to express opinions on an issue through sending a defined unit to an address. These Vote addresses are similar to options on a ballot paper. However, rather than a central governing body creating ballot papers in a restricted vote, users are free to create as many options as they wish. We encourage creation of applications and websites to display the contents of Vote addresses in the blockchain, facilitate expression of user opinions, and support the democratic process through encouraging anonymous dialogue.

Project Votecoin contains elements of direct democracy, where a user may vote directly on an issue. This will give credence to the option or opinion associated with the address Votes are sent to. It also allows for representative democracy; a user may send their Vote to another user and delegate them to act in their interests. As any user may transfer their Vote to another user, aspects similar to an election campaign will exist to encourage users to delegate their Vote to a representative.

Votes, unlike cryptocurrencies or traditional votes, will be easily recalled by the user. The recall function allows a voter to change their mind and use their Vote differently as they see fit. A user who changes their mind about an issue may also immediately recall the Vote and vote differently on it. Additionally, a user who disagrees with the voting record of a delegate may immediately recall the Vote sent to them. Democratic cryptocracy therefore contains a much more flexible voting system than any currently used by a government.

Phase 3: User verification to ensure one user one Vote.

There are several options to verify Votecoin users, and most necessitate abandoning anonymity. While we encourage the development of voting networks, anonymity is crucial to the project and we always aim to protect users from revealing their voting records publicly. In addition, verifying users through methods ranging from fingerprinting to linking with social media accounts entrusts power in institutions not within the network, exposing us to risk.

Instead, Project Votecoin is intended to implement anonymous user verification through subconscious learning. It has been proven that our brains can remember codes of up to 30 characters in length without ever consciously knowing them (Bojinov et al., 2012). We can apply this method to memorising cryptkeys used to access Vote addresses. This approach would issue each user with a unique key code to unlock and access their Vote which they will never consciously know. Each user would learn the key through a process unique to each Vote address, and input the key code without consciously remembering it.

Research is currently being conducted by a team of volunteers. The Project Votecoin Research Fund has been established to support research into subconscious user verification through grants to individuals or institutions conducting research into relevant areas. Profits made by the Project Votecoin team are donated to the fund. We are grateful for donations of any size to the Research Fund, which may be sent to the addresses below:

BTC: 161PKgQLwfEYvmZFWtbHx1rGssAz6cpnKa

LTC: LfaHx3WqVTjm69WTvhT8TZW3fSFCDRGjJS

Bojinov et al., Neuroscience Meets Cryptography: Designing Crypto Primitives Secure Against Rubber Hose Attacks, Usenix 2012, stable URL:
http://bojinov.org/professional/usenixsec2012-rubberhose.pdf

http://i57.tinypic.com/2i74521.png

Website:
http://votecoin.weebly.com/

Votecoin is currently in development.

Block target: 60 seconds
Coins per block: 1337
Block rate halves every 31337 blocks

Phase 2 will see "Vote" and "Coin" introduced in the same blockchain. The blockchain currently contains Coin only.