---
title: Horizon State
type: platform
status: inactive
country: AU
website: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://horizonstate.com/
logo: /assets/org-logos/horizon-state.png
logo_bg: light
summary: An Australian blockchain voting platform that aimed to bring secure, transparent
  digital voting to governments and organisations. Wound down after initial pilots.
concepts:
- end-to-end-verifiable-voting-system
- e-government
events:
- date: '2017-01-01'
  title: Founded by Jamie Skella and Nimo Naamani as a Melbourne-based blockchain
    voting startup
  url: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blockchain-voting-platform-horizon-state-140552054.html
  quote: Co-founded in 2017 by Jamie Skella and Nimo Naamani, Horizon State attempted
    to transform the voting process in Australia and New Zealand using blockchain
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-12'
  notable: true
- date: '2017-11-19'
  title: Token Generation Event (ICO) concluded, raising approximately $1.4M
  url: https://icodrops.com/horizon-state/
  quote: The TGE (Token Generation Event) announced by Horizon State has successfully
    concluded on Nov 19, 2017
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-10'
  notable: false
- date: '2019-02-01'
  title: South Australian government used the platform to run a public election for
    its Recreational Fishing Advisory Council
  url: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blockchain-voting-platform-horizon-state-140552054.html
  quote: In February 2019, the South Australian government used Horizon State to run
    a public election for the recreational fishing advisory council.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-12'
  notable: true
- date: '2019-08-21'
  title: Company shut down after legal costs from a lawsuit
  url: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blockchain-voting-platform-horizon-state-140552054.html
  quote: an eye-watering expense [that] will see the business become insolvent, and
    ultimately force its closure
  note: Horizon State, a blockchain platform for voting based in Australia, has been
    shut down after a lawsuit was filed against it.
  proof_level: high
  url_checked: '2026-08-12'
  notable: true
---

Horizon State was an Australian company that built a blockchain-based voting and decision-making platform. The system used distributed ledger technology to record votes on a permanent, publicly auditable record — aiming to solve problems of vote integrity, transparency, and accessibility.

They ran several real-world pilots, including a contract with the South Australian government to run the election for the inaugural Minister's Recreational Fishing Advisory Council, and work with The Opportunities Party in New Zealand.

## Why it matters as a case study

Horizon State is a useful reference point for the blockchain-in-democracy discussion. It attracted significant attention during the blockchain enthusiasm of 2017–2018, demonstrated that blockchain voting could be implemented in real government contexts, but ultimately did not achieve the scale or institutional adoption needed to sustain the company.

The core lesson: technical feasibility is not the binding constraint for digital voting adoption. The challenges are political, institutional, and trust-related — blockchain's verifiability properties don't automatically translate into public confidence, and governments move slowly on changes to electoral infrastructure regardless of the technology's merits.

Horizon State operated in the same ecosystem as [SecureVote](securevote.md) and in the broader orbit of the [Flux Party](flux-party.md), which also used blockchain in its voting architecture.

## See also

- [End-to-End Verifiable Voting System](../concepts/end-to-end-verifiable-voting-system.md)
- [E-Government](../concepts/e-government.md)
- [SecureVote](securevote.md)