📐 Quadratic Voting: Fairer Democracy
Learn how quadratic voting reduces plutocracy and whale dominance
Your Progress
0 / 5 completed√ The Power of Square Roots
Quadratic voting (QV) transforms voting power using square roots: votes = √(tokens). 100 tokens = 10 votes, not 100 votes. This mathematical shift reduces whale dominance while preserving token-weighted governance. A holder with 10,000 tokens gets 100 votes (not 10,000), while 100 holders with 100 tokens each get 1,000 votes combined (10 each). Democracy without abandoning token economics.
🎮 Interactive: Linear vs Quadratic Calculator
Adjust token amount to see how quadratic voting transforms voting power compared to traditional linear (1 token = 1 vote) systems.
With 100 tokens: Linear gives you 100 votes, but quadratic gives only 10.0 votes. That's a 90.0% reduction in voting power!
🎯 Why Quadratic Voting Matters
A whale with 10,000 tokens gets 100 votes (√10,000) instead of 10,000. Still influential but not dominant. 100 small holders with 100 tokens each (10 votes each) = 1,000 votes combined.
Small holders gain proportionally more influence. Someone with 4 tokens gets 2 votes (50% efficiency), while someone with 10,000 tokens gets 100 votes (1% efficiency).
Unlike one-person-one-vote, quadratic voting still rewards token ownership. More tokens = more votes, just not linearly. Large holders maintain influence without total control.
Going from 100 to 101 votes requires buying 10,201 tokens (101² = 10,201). Each additional vote costs exponentially more. Makes whale attacks expensive.
📊 Real-World Comparison
In linear voting, whale (10,000) has 100x more power than small holder (100). In quadratic, whale (100 votes) has only 10x more power than small holder (10 votes). Democracy restored while keeping token weights.
💡 Key Insight
Quadratic voting addresses governance's core tension: How do you prevent whale dominance without abandoning token-weighted voting? One-person-one-vote (used in nation-states) ignores economic stake. Linear voting (1 token = 1 vote) creates plutocracy. Quadratic voting is the mathematical middle ground. Square roots compress power at the top, boost influence at the bottom, while maintaining that more tokens = more votes. It's not perfect—vote buying becomes more profitable (we'll explore this)—but it's the most democratic system that respects token ownership.