Voice Credits
Voice credits are a unit of account used in quadratic voting to represent the voting power of a participant. Unlike standard tokens, these credits are non-transferable and are specifically allocated to influence the outcome of a decision.
The quadratic cost function ensures that participants must carefully consider where to spend their limited budget. This forces users to prioritize their most important issues, leading to a more accurate reflection of preference intensity.
Voice credits prevent a single wealthy user from dominating all decisions, as the cost of buying additional votes increases exponentially. They are a tool for balancing democratic participation with resource scarcity.
By design, they create a market-like mechanism for decision-making within a protocol. The management of voice credit issuance and budget limits is a key governance parameter.
They are a fundamental component of the infrastructure that enables quadratic voting to function effectively. They turn abstract preferences into quantifiable, actionable data for the community.