Doubts arise over auditor of Russia2024 blockchain voting campaign

Russian exiled anti-Putin activist and former Pussy Riot lawyer Mark Feygin said the new blockchain application he created to challenge Putin’s legitimacy was overseen by Halborn, but a lack of evidence suggests that may not be the case.

Mark Feygin, a Russian human rights activist and former lawyer who represented the Russian feminist protest and performance art group Pussy Riot, is preparing to launch his new initiative, Russia2024, to challenge the legitimacy of the recent Russian elections.

According to a press release shared with crypto.news, Fegyin wants to launch “a referendum challenging the legitimacy of Russia’s elections” to allow Russians to “vote revealing whether the results are illegitimate.”

“The referendum will be the first protest vote to go live on Russia2024. The app was built using Rarimo’s Freedom Tool, a snooping-free voting solution. Freedom Tool leverages blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography to enable citizens to poll, vote, and protest without being tracked.”

Rarimo directed by Kitty Horlick

The FAQ section of the initiative website states that those interested in participating should scan their passports via a mobile app developed for Android and iOS devices (as of press time, the iOS version appears to have been removed from the App Store), providing “personal” assurance when scanning. The data does not leave your phone and provides complete privacy.”

The press release shared with Crypto.news claims that Russia2024 was “publicly stress-tested through audits and white hackers for two months.”

Mark Feygin’s claim that Russia2024 was controlled by Halborn | Source: Telegram

Mark Feygin hinted in a Telegram post on his channel in early April that Russia2024 was audited by THORSwap, Polygon, and Halborn, an international blockchain security company that conducts audits for blockchain projects.

Halborn’s list of audited companies | Source: Halborn

However, crypto.news found no indication on Halborn’s website that the firm had conducted any audits for Russia2024, raising concerns about the app’s transparency and data handling processes.

On his Telegram channel, Feygin cites a Notion document written in Russian as evidence of Halborn’s Russia2024 audit, and attached to that document is what appears to be a draft audit for Rarimo itself, rather than the Russia2024 campaign.

Russia2024’s website mentions Halborn as auditor | Source: Russia2024

The Russia2024 official website also implies that Halborn actually oversees the app, but does not explicitly say that the blockchain firm moderates Russia2024.

Rarimo’s official website also claims that the project is supervised by Halborn and Ambisafe. Rarilabs director Kitty Horlick confirmed in an email to crypto.news that “Rarimo and Freedom Tool are controlled by Halborn. I have no idea why we’re not on the list.” [Halborn] domain.” To support the description, Horlick also included several links to PDF versions of audits conducted by Halborn on Rarimo’s Github.

Despite Rarimo’s insistence that the project was audited, so far there is no evidence that Rarimo or Russia2024 on X was audited by Halborn.