Rebuilding Trust: From Ukraine’s Web3 Manifesto to Taiwan’s Digital Democracy
Legislator At-Large of Taiwan Parliament, Vice Co-chair of Legislative-yuan US-Taiwan Caucus (LUC), Founder and Chair of Emerging Technology Exchange Association (ETEA)
In this talk, Dr. Ju-Chun “JC” - Legislator Ko, MP of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, will shares how Web3 can build financial and democratic resilience — from vTaiwan’s participatory governance to the Digital Wallet, DID, and TaiVote projects — showing how open tech can turn trust into a foundation for democracy.
Key Ideas:
- Shared Challenges: Taiwan and Ukraine both face external pressures requiring digital resilience
- Core Principle: "Use transparency to replace authority, use consensus to replace command"
- v.Taiwan Platform (2014):
- Digital platform for citizens-government collaboration on policy
- Successfully resolved Uber regulation and sharing economy laws
- Used pol.is algorithm to find consensus among diverse opinions
- Embodied decentralized governance before Web3 became mainstream
- Digital Identity Wallet:
- Open-source, Ethereum-based system
- Users control their own data with "free to opt in, free to opt out"
- Verifiable credentials without revealing all personal information
- Public-private collaboration for Web3 financial services
- Compatible with EU eID 2.0 standards for cross-border use
- TaiVote - AI Policy Voting System:
- Combines Web3 verification with proof-of-human technology (World ID)
- Anonymous voting while proving real human participation
- Used for Taiwan's AI Basic Law development
- Eliminates bots and fake accounts while preserving privacy
- Can distinguish voters by nationality without revealing identity
- Enables transparent public budget oversight and airdrops
- Policy Implications:
- First-ever AI Basic Law incorporating Web3 civic trust mechanisms
- Moving from open government to verifiable democracy
- Inquiry about Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for Taiwan
- Four Pillars Alignment:
- Economic recovery through digital innovation
- Digital trust through transparent systems
- Interoperable ecosystem across borders
- ESG impact through sustainable technology
Dr. Ju-Chun Ko, Legislator At-Large of Taiwan Parliament, Vice Co-chair of Legislative-yuan US-Taiwan Caucus (LUC), and Founder and Chair of Emerging Technology Exchange Association (ETEA).
Dr. Ko will present "Rebuilding Trust: From Ukraine's Web3 Manifesto to Taiwan's Digital Democracy". In this talk, Dr. Ju-Chun "JC" Ko, MP of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, will share how Web3 can build financial and democratic resilience — from vTaiwan's participatory governance to the Digital Wallet, DID, and TaiVote projects — showing how open tech can turn trust into a foundation for democracy.
Dr. Ko brings invaluable insights on how decentralized technologies can strengthen democratic institutions and citizen participation, drawing parallels between Taiwan's and Ukraine's experiences in building digital resilience.