A staff memo has revealed that the U.S. Congress is considering blockchain technology as a means for the Senate to conduct remote voting among the coronavirus pandemic.

The report states that blockchain may be deployed aslope finish-to-stop encrypted, or E2EE, applications to facilitate voting.

The memo was equanimous later on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations' Roundtable on Continuity of Senate Operations and Remote Voting in Times of Crisis consequence.

The word came equally the Senate prepares to reconvene this week.

Senate considers DLT-based voting contingency

The document states that Congress' two chambers have always "met in-person to deport business, including commission hearings, floor deliberation, and voting," emphasizing that "neither chamber has contingency plans to let those functions to proceed remotely."

The Senate staff memo asserts that through an encrypted distributed ledger, "blockchain tin both transmit a vote securely and also verify the correct vote — noting that said characteristics have been used to argue for the efficacy of blockchain-based voting systems.

"Blockchain can provide a secure and transparent environment for transactions and a tamper-free electronic record of all the votes," the memo states. "It too reduces the risks of wrong vote tallies," the document adds.

Congress also notes that blockchain-like systems are already being deployed in the context of voting — citing Republic of estonia's 2022 parliamentary elections that saw 44% of votes bandage online.

Senate concerned about security vulnerabilities

The report identifies concerns regarding a 51% attack on the blockchain used to host Senate ballots, emphasizing that "any remote blockchain voting organization would need to be properly set upward to eliminate any threat of 51 percent attack."

The Senate also expresses anxieties concerning "possible vulnerabilities from cryptographic flaws and software bugs."

The memo comes amid increasing discussions surrounding the efficacy of blockchain-based solutions to governance challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin being urged by members of Congress to consider blockchain-based stimulus distributions.