The fan vote is broken: Here is what it takes to make people trust it again

The founder of MyStarChain, which runs blockchain-based public voting for awards and competitions, explains why trust in fan voting has collapsed. In August 2026, the 70th Miss Korea pageant's public vote saw 7,855 fans cast 47,859 votes, all recorded on a public blockchain. This transparency set it apart from previous competitions, which faced accusations of rigged results.

The author argues that trust in fan voting has collapsed due to three main threats: bot and macro voting, organizers adjusting counts, and sponsors doubting the numbers. Solutions like tightening vote limits and adding fraud detection still rely on the organizer's trust, which the author believes is broken. The solution, according to the author, is to remove the operator from the trust equation by recording every vote as a token transfer on a public blockchain, allowing fans to verify their own votes.

This approach has been successfully implemented in various competitions, including the PC.com Readers’ Choice Awards 2026 in Malaysia and the BusinessToday Industry Choice Awards 2026 in Singapore. The author also highlights that a verified vote provides better data than a survey, as it records actual fan actions and can help brands understand real fan relationships and potential customer behavior.

To ensure trustworthy fan votes, organizers should ask vendors if fans can independently verify their votes and if disputed results can be published as evidence.