Sierra Leone Becomes the First Country in the World to Use Blockchain to Vote

Sierra Leone became the first country in the world to use blockchain technology to verify votes in an election last week.

Swiss blockchain company Agora provided the service to Sierra Leone’s Western District, which houses the nation’s capital of Freetown and is the country’s most populous area.

After voting, each paper ballot was logged using specialized blockchain technology.

Similar to how blockchain provides transparency in cryptocurrency transactions by storing data in a public record, Agora hopes to provide transparency in elections.

In Sierra Leone, this was accomplished by each vote being stored on a joint, private blockchain network accessible only by election officials tasked with overseeing the election process. This reduces the chances of any vote, which were validated on the blockchain network in real time, from being tampered with.

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