“At the end of the day, it’s about getting corruption out of our public ledgers, and those public ledgers are both voting and budgets… by putting the voting and these budgets on blockchains, we remove the corruption. And now that’s going to reflect the will of the people,” says Herb Stephens, explaining the ultimate aim of Democracy Earth.

As president of the company, Stephens elaborates on the ways in which a blockchain-based online voting system would bring an unprecedented level of transparency, accessibility, and understanding to the democratic process.

As it stands, elections and polls across the globe are vulnerable to manipulation, limited by the binary choice of a “yes” or “no” vote, and reflective only of those who can cast their opinions at a polling station. “Liquid democracy opens up possibilities, so we can think of different forms of democracy operating over time,” says Stephens. “Right now we have liquid democracy, but it’s frozen.”

Stephens also discusses:

• His skepticism regarding successful adoption by the U.S., and why there is resistance to the level of transparency that Democracy Earth makes possible.
• The meaning behind the term “decision laundering” and how it can be prevented through the use of blockchains.
• The new Democracy Earth token called “vote” and the upcoming, first of its kind Initial Rights Offering (IRO).
• Examples of top-down and bottom-up use cases.

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