Bitcoin Blockchain Is Fighting Fraud In Guatemala’s Presidential Elections

Bitcoin is helping unafraid the truthfulness of Guatemala’s predetermination results.

Thanks to OpenTimestamps, a instrumentality created by bitcoin developer Peter Todd a fewer years ago, Guatemalan tech startup Simple Proof is capable to safeguard cardinal documents astir the country’s statesmanlike elections from fraud and tampering. Todd’s tool, which leverages hash functions and the bitcoin blockchain, is capable to timestamp pieces of accusation and marque it easier to spot attempts astatine fraud and manipulation.

The thought of timestamping documents is reasonably old. Individuals and societies person relied connected this method for centuries to bespeak erstwhile a papers was signed, erstwhile a cheque was written, oregon erstwhile idiosyncratic was born. Cryptographic timestamps, however, are overmuch newer. They instrumentality the conception of quality timestamping a measurement further by relying connected mathematics alternatively of a fallible and corruptible quality being. Signatures tin beryllium forged by blase actors, and authorities tin beryllium taxable to antithetic incentives, making them susceptible of being bribed oregon corrupted. Also, “to err is human,” portion mathematics makes nary mistake if the close algorithms are used.

An illustration of a bully algorithm is simply a hash function, a benignant of mathematical relation that takes a adaptable sized input to output a fixed magnitude result. This effect is called the hash of that input. Hash functions are utilized successful the bitcoin network, notably successful blocks that get added to the blockchain, arsenic good arsenic by OpenTimestamps.

How Does OpenTimestamps Work?

OpenTimestamps leverages hash functions to cryptographically timestamp immoderate portion of information into the bitcoin blockchain. In this case, mathematics is being leveraged to amended upon the usage of quality signatures oregon attestation, and the bitcoin blockchain is being utilized arsenic a decentralized integer ledger to anchor that information, linking it to a block. This ensures tens of thousands of nodes successful the web tin each independently witnesser the beingness of the timestamp anchor and beryllium capable to verify that so that hash was added to a artifact which was mined astatine a definite time.

OpenTimestamps works by hashing the accusation submitted by a fixed idiosyncratic and adding it to a bitcoin artifact with a bitcoin transaction. Since the bitcoin block’s hash is calculated leveraging each the accusation contained successful that block, the timestamping information is indispensable for the calculation of that block’s hash. In different words, the presumption with the timestamping is that the miner must’ve needfully started with that timestamp transaction –– on with the different transactions contained successful the artifact –– to get astatine the block’s hash. This means that the accusation that was timestamped indispensable person existed anterior to the instauration of that bitcoin block. Since each bitcoin artifact has a timestamp of its own, users tin cheque the day and clip that artifact was mined and beryllium capable to beryllium assured with mathematical certainty that the papers existed successful a constituent successful clip anterior to that block’s timestamp.

On its own, this assurance isn’t that valuable. Sure, it lets idiosyncratic beryllium that a portion of information existed anterior to a fixed constituent successful time, but however is this useful? Well, combined with different types of accusation and evidence, galore things tin beryllium deduced from this elemental assurance. For example, 1 tin deduce that since that accusation existed earlier that bitcoin block, immoderate changes to that accusation were done aft that clip if its hash is different.

The pieces of accusation and grounds indispensable for much blase conclusions request to beryllium handled by the idiosyncratic because, ultimately, each that OpenTimestamps provides is the impervious of inclusion of the hash of that accusation successful that bitcoin block. Therefore, users that requested the timestamp should support the archetypal accusation successful manus successful lawsuit they privation to beryllium their information matches the timestamp. Given the properties of hash functions –– the aforesaid inputs ever make the aforesaid output –– the hash volition beryllium the aforesaid if the accusation hasn’t been altered. Thus, it becomes rather casual to archer if immoderate alterations person been made to the archetypal accusation due to the fact that the hash would beryllium different.

Under the hood, OpenTimestamps doesn’t enactment the hash of each idiosyncratic portion of information being timestamped into bitcoin. That could beryllium expensive, arsenic it would necessitate 1 on-chain bitcoin transaction for each timestamp. Instead, OpenTimestamps leverages Merkle trees to compact that accusation arsenic overmuch arsenic possible.

Similar to however you tin hash a ample portion of accusation and get astatine a fixed magnitude hash, you tin hash 2 hashes further and get to a azygous hash. Likewise, you tin commencement with 4 pieces of information, hash them individually, past hash them successful pairs until you’re near with lone 1 hash. The worth proposition of Merkle trees successful this discourse is each astir scaling this setup, wherever you person a ample fig of idiosyncratic pieces of accusation and you hash them until you’re near with 1 hash –– the basal hash. OpenTimestamps takes this basal hash and adds it to bitcoin, distributing the outgo of a azygous bitcoin transaction to each archetypal portion of accusation that was submitted for timestamping and utilized to conception the tree.

Users tin inactive cheque that their idiosyncratic hash was added, and that yet their information was timestamped. They tin leverage the OpenTimestamps website, oregon spell afloat cypherpunk and hash each the information until they scope the tree’s basal hash and crosscheck with the information that’s connected bitcoin.

What Does This Have To Do With Guatemala?

Guatemala has a agelong past of corruption and fraud amid its governmental circles. Simple Proof was implemented successful that discourse by ITZ DATA arsenic an immutable backup solution for the Guatemalan Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) –– the highest electoral authorization successful the country.

"The Simple Proof solution, named Immutable Backup, leverages the OpenTimestamps protocol to grounds proofs of documents successful a tamper-evident mode connected the bitcoin blockchain," Rafael Cordón, co-founder of Simple Proof, told Bitcoin Magazine. "TSE utilized Simple Proof to safeguard authoritative predetermination documents and support captious accusation from artificial quality and disinformation, ensuring that immoderate tampering of documents is made evident and immoderate national tin independently verify the accusation for themselves."

Guatemala’s citizens tin cheque immoderate fixed tally expanse and verify its impervious of timestamp done a dedicated web portal. Each expanse contains the sum of votes for each campaigner astatine a voting poll. Therefore, transparency is provided to the colonisation regarding the tally sheets that were scanned and utilized to number the votes, arsenic good arsenic erstwhile each tally expanse was timestamped.

It is important to enactment that this setup can’t attest whether a fixed tally expanse is valid oregon not; determination is inactive a spot presumption towards TSE. However, it is an betterment implicit conscionable taking officials for their word, arsenic it is, for example, easier to spot outliers among each the tally sheets. Rather than being capable to archer voters circumstantial validity accusation for immoderate azygous tally sheet, OpenTimestamps allows an overview of the full discourse of the elections.

For example, it arguably shouldn’t instrumentality much than an hr aft voting ends to scan a tally sheet, upload it to Simple Proof’s solution, and get it timestamped into a confirmed bitcoin block. If the bulk of tally sheets autumn wrong that hr but a fewer were timestamped overmuch longer aft the closing of votes, it is tenable to presume that those outlier sheets person a overmuch greater accidental of being fraudulent than the different ones. In different words, successful the lawsuit that a tally expanse was entered overmuch aft it was expected to, the timestamps are going to archer you that it is suspicious that it took that agelong to timestamp the expanse aft the polls closed alternatively than little than an hr later.

This was and inactive is being specially important successful the discourse of Guatemala’s elections due to the fact that of the hostility determination was starring up to the race, arsenic good arsenic the outlier campaigner who ended up winning it. President-elect Bernardo Arévalo wasn’t expected to adjacent suffice for the main contention months earlier it took place.

Once Arévalo won the statesmanlike election, the outcry was massive. Officials from the bureau of the country’s lawyer general, María Consuelo Porras, raided facilities of the TSE, opening dozens of boxes of votes, per AP. The opposing party, UNE, claimed the triumph was fraudulent and demanded a ballot recount.

UNE posted a thread connected X explaining their rationale with immoderate alleged grounds –– including a screenshot of 1 tally expanse connected Simple Proof’s web instrumentality that showed it was timestamped before the polls closed.

Either successful an effort to propulsion their communicative oregon by mistake, the screenshot of that tally expanse was taken connected a antithetic timezone than the country’s superior authoritative time, starring to the one-hour difference. In this circumstantial case, bitcoin helped guarantee the claims made by UNE were false, and immoderate national was capable to verify it by checking the timestamp connected their computer. Notably, 1 did –– publishing a screenshot connected X rectifying that the tally expanse UNE claimed had been tampered with had really not been timestamped excessively early.

While bitcoin was designed and developed solely to lick the treble walk occupation and execute physics peer-to-peer money, its web of nodes and decentralized ledger tin powerfulness different absorbing usage cases.

In this case, it’s evident however Simple Proof played an important relation successful protecting cardinal predetermination information. Had OpenTimestamps and bitcoin not been a portion of the process of securing that accusation successful a cryptographic, nationalist and decentralized manner, determination could’ve been a overmuch bigger outcry and tumultuous procedures to effort to guarantee the accusation hadn’t been tampered with. Doubts would astir apt inactive persist, and successful a state with a past of fragile antiauthoritarian procedures, the shaking of assurance could deter the president-elect’s quality to pb the federation arsenic its rightful caller leader.