Former Pussy Riot lawyer launches blockchain-powered referendum to challenge Putin's inauguration

Opposition activist and former lawyer for the band Pussy Riot, Mark Feygin, has launched a referendum on the blockchain-based voting app Russia2024 that aims to challenge Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as president in the country.

Presidential elections were held in Russia from March 15 to 17, and Putin’s inauguration took place on Tuesday this week. Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group known for political activism and opposition to Putin. One of the band's cofounders, Nadya Tolokonnikova, is a long-time advocate of crypto and has raised millions of dollars for causes through the sale of NFTs in the past.

The referendum is the first protest vote to go live on Russia2024 following two months of audits and white hat hacker stress tests. It invites citizens to cast votes challenging the Russian elections, according to a statement shared with The Block.

The app was built using Rarimo’s open-source “Freedom Tool,” a surveillance-free voting solution that leverages blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography. Rarimo is a privacy-first social protocol developed by Kyiv-based Rarilabs.

The tool purely enables a means of protest. However, it ensures citizens can poll, vote and protest without being tracked, Rarilabs claimed.

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

How it works

Users of Russia2024 prove their citizenship and voting eligibility by scanning their biometric passports with their phones.

The data on their passport’s biometric chip is then verified, and an anonymous voting pass for polls and protest elections on the app is issued. Zero-knowledge cryptography is used to sever the link between the pass and passport data, with votes published directly onto the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain Arbitrum where they are tamper-proof, Rarilabs claimed.

“Freedom Tool was built to help give a voice to people living in regimes,” said Rarilabs co-founder Lasha Antadze. “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.”