Scotland includes blockchain democracy in the constitution

Scotland is the world’s first country to define national scale Horizon State blockchain democracy capability integrated into a written constitution

In early 2016, the Scottish government committed to accelerate trials of digital voting. By July 2018 Edinburgh’s Wallet Services, the government’s blockchain public infrastructure partner, advocated that the future of democracy should be underpinned with distributed ledger technology, aka blockchain.

The move to blockchain technology has already been considered by The Scottish Parliament. In September 2018 Jenny Gilruth MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes lodged a Motion highlighting necessary electoral reform, commending YesDayScotland media portal founder Nicholas Russell, and all involved on the recent 500 miles blockchain walk. The Motion stated that blockchain will bring wider voter participation in Scotland, and be crucial to the security of any significant future national decisions.

Horizon State is a 2018 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, joining the ranks of Airbnb, Google, Kickstarter and Spotify.

Horizon State technology empowers communities through the use of distributed ledger technology. This is the first time Horizon State has offered assistance on a national scale. The offer has arrived in Scotland, via the YesDayScotland media portal, which has delivered voluntary investigative reporting on digital democracy potential over the last 5 years. Founder Nicholas Russell says, ‘This is now the most incredible groundbreaking global opportunity for Scotland, our democracy can be totally revolutionised, and if the potential is fully embraced, Scotland can emulate and then perhaps even overtake Estonia, which is currently the most advanced digital society in the world’.

Scotland’s previous paper voting system, which is vulnerable to tampering, is therefore rendered obsolete, as Horizon State champion the use of a digital, decentralised method of participation, which relies on a secure online portal, accessed through voter-owned technology, such as smartphones.

In order to deliver this capability however, Scotland’s government will need to upgrade the existing archaic National Entitlement Card identity scheme, to a fully modernised scheme with identity cards which are capable of being used to create digital citizenships.

Trials have been underway since August 2018, for Scots to be able to create self-sovereign digital identities.

It is envisaged that if, and after new identity cards are issued by the Scottish government, citizens will then be able to create self-sovereign digital identities, and then use the Horizon State platform to express opinions about Scotland’s future.

Dr Mark McNaught, Associate Professor of Law and Political Science at University of Rennes, is leading the project to design and enact a new Scottish Constitution and legal system from the ground up, overturning all Westminster Precedent, incorporating blockchain technology at all levels. Discussions are ongoing with the Scottish government over the adoption of this blockchain constitutional development platform once a vote for independence has been confirmed.

Dr McNaught says, “Scotland is now at the point where it can choose to adopt the most democratic written constitution in existence. If fully embraced by the Scottish government, Scotland will be a global pioneer employing blockchain democracy as part and parcel of this new Scottish Constitution. This will set new global standards for democratic, oligarch-free non-corrupt governance, and will be replicable and in other countries. Scotland can either choose to remain with a Brexit UK, and be one of the poorest and least-democratic countries in Europe, or become independent, and become amongst its richest and THE most democratic. It’s up to you, the choice is that stark.”

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