Horizon State has formed a strategic partnership with the Halo Platform. Halo is a next-gen blockchain platform that modernizes several aspects of the crypto eco-system, using a unique consensus mechanism, and actively working towards a multi-use eco-system.

Following on from this partnership agreement, Horizon State is now using Halo to run the vote in New Zealand’s The Opportunities Party (TOP) leadership race. Halo’s unique architecture and fee model make it the right chain for collecting votes from a large population or in a situation where we must run several consecutive votes; The benefit of using Halo’s solutions today becomes quite apparent in the lead-up to running multiple campaigns in the next few months.

As a blockchain system, the Halo Platform is quite diverse in how it works as an application-based system. A fork of Ethereum, it allows Dapps and smart contracts through supporting Solidity. The team at Halo has a long-term development plan that will include:

Finance Tracking Security Backups Debit Cards A Marketplace Pro Dev Tools Hardware Wallet Integrations Community integration Business Tool for Online Stores

Horizon State’s main reasons for selecting Halo are scalability, cost-effectiveness and a responsible environmental footprint.

The Halo platform’s incentive mechanism allows for true zero-cost transactions. According to the Halo team they are able to “​…​do​ ​this​ ​because​ ​our​ ​masternode​ ​system​ ​will​ ​be​ ​always​ ​available​ ​to​ ​handle transactions​ ​and​ ​provide​ ​consensus. ​The​ ​smart​ ​contracts​ ​will​ ​have​ ​a public and private variation​ ​that​ ​control​ ​gas​ ​usage. Public​ ​contracts​ ​will​ ​use​ ​gas, and​ ​private​ ​will​ ​not.” (Source: Halo Platform White Paper)

Throughput — the number of concurrent transactions that the chain can handle — is another important criterion Horizon State looked at when deciding to use the Halo Platform. Halo’s throughput is substantially higher compared to chains like Bitcoin or Ethereum. This helps alleviate any concern users may have about the speed of transactions hindering wide-scoped usage of distributed ledgers. Low transaction throughputs pose a problem for various Dapps — especially when they are trying to disrupt a market that is used to fast transaction processing.

With Halo, Dapps can function at a substantially rapid processing speed compared to other solutions on the market. This is because it uses a different consensus mechanism that is far faster than, for example, the Ethereum based solution; it, “…has been carefully architected with the help of top cloud engineers, for a carefully load-balanced trading and platform experience that you can count on when it matters the most.” (Source: Halo Platform White Paper)

The cost of running an election can be quite substantial, whether through manually counted ballots or through current electronic voter machines.

Security, labour, redundancies, and the very process of tabulating an election’s results; all play a factor for the bodies in charge of conducting an election.

On a national scale these costs are endured as a part of the process of democracy. Governments plan for, and budget these costs into their national expenditures. However, these costs have grown far greater in modern years due mainly to security and the sheer size of the electorate. By pinning our solutions onto the Halo platform we’re able to tackle the needs of a national electorate that is widely dispersed; it gives the Horizon State voting platform a secure and stable main chain to process electoral results.

When conducting elections in smaller jurisdictions, or with governing bodies managing a portfolio; the costs associated with polling, tabulating, and consulting their constituents can be a limiting factor. As we currently are in world of rapid democratization, where decision makers often regularly consult with stakeholders, the need for solutions that are cost-effective and quick has increased. Horizon State’s technology can be rapidly implemented in a turnkey manner that can provide needed security in polling as well as the trust in the results that are stored and processed. The current elections for TOP showcases the diverse capabilities of Horizon State’s platform — running on top of Halo. From here we can provide future customers with real-life reference scenarios where our technology has proven itself.

We look forward to growing our solutions on the Halo Platform and taking on the global challenge of secure and trustworthy votes.

To find out more about the Halo Platform you can read their extensive features on their company wiki or white paper. We also recommend joining their Discord or Telegram communities.