Overview
Quadratic Voting (QV) is a governance mechanism designed to better reflect the 'intensity' of a voter's preference while preventing a few wealthy individuals from dominating the outcome. It was popularized in the Web3 space by Vitalik Buterin and the book 'Radical Markets.'
How it Works
- Cost of Votes: 1 vote costs 1 credit, 2 votes cost 4 credits, 3 votes cost 9 credits, and so on ($Cost = Votes^2$).
- Incentive: This makes it very expensive to cast many votes for a single issue, encouraging voters to spread their influence across multiple proposals they care about.
Applications
- DAO Governance: Ensuring that a passionate minority can have a voice against a less-passionate majority.
- Public Goods Funding: Used in 'Quadratic Funding' (like Gitcoin) to match community donations with larger treasury pools.