Russian opposition activist launches zero-knowledge voting app to challenge Putin’s inauguration

Russian
opposition
activist
and
former
Pussy
Riot
lawyer
Mark
Feygin
has
launched
a
referendum
on
the
zero-knowledge
voting
app

Russia2024,
challenging
the
legitimacy
of
the
recent
Russian
elections
and
Vladimir
Putin’s
inauguration
as
president.

The
vote,
which
went
live
on
May
10th,
three
days
after
Putin’s
inauguration,
is
the
first
protest
vote
on
the
app
following
months
of
audits
and
stress
tests.

Russia2024
was
built
using
Rarimo’s
Freedom
Tool,
an
open-source,
surveillance-free
voting
solution
that
leverages
blockchain
and

zero-knowledge
cryptography
to
ensure
citizens
can
poll,
vote,
and
protest
without
being
tracked.
The
app
was
first
announced
in
a

broadcast
on
March
9,
2024.

Following
the
announcement,
the
Kremlin
attempted
to
obstruct
the
app
by
filing
against
it,
temporarily
removing
it
from
the
Apple
store,
and
sponsoring
negative
reviews,
a
strategy
exposed
by
a
whistleblower
who
expressed
support
for
the
app.

“Dissent
in
Russia
is
growing
more
risky
and
public
opinion
harder
to
track.
It
is
critical
that
we
provide
reliable,
surveillance-proof
avenues
for
protest
and
polling.
Russia2024
and
its
underlying
technology
has
enabled
that,”
Feygin
said
in
a
press
release
shared
with
Crypto
Briefing.

The
app
was
developed
by
Kyiv-based
Rarilabs,
with
key
contributions
from
activist
developers
working
anonymously
inside
regimes
around
the
world.
Rarilabs
is
a
privacy-first
social
protocol
backed
by
Pantera
Capital.
In
2022,
the
company
raised
$10
million
at
a
$100
million
valuation
for
its
Series
A
funding
round.

According
to
the
project’s

whitepaper,
the
app
uses
Russia’s
machine-readable
passport
information
submitted
by
a
user.

The
data
is
then
decrypted
and
verified
locally
(on
a
device).
Digital
identity,
once
authenticated,
is
resolved
using
a
generated
keypair,
which
is
then
used
to
interact
with
the
app’s
smart
contract.
The
image
below
illustrates
how
the
app
works.

Zero-knowledge
cryptography
severs
the
link
between
the
pass
and
passport
data,
and
votes
are
published
directly
on

Arbitrum,
an
Ethereum
L2,
where
the
data
then
becomes
tamper-proof.

“Freedom
Tool
was
built
to
help
give
a
voice
to
people
living
in
regimes.
Its
implementation
in
Russia
is
an
early
example
of
how
blockchain
and
zero-knowledge
cryptography
can
meet
the
urgent
need
around
the
world
for
privacy
technology,”
said
Lasha
Antadze,
co-founder
of
Rarilabs.

Antadze
previously
worked
on
the
Ukrainian
government’s
e-identity
and
digitalization
reform,
as
well
as
the
EU’s
Stork
2.0
digital
signature
standardization.