Clear DefinitionsLiquid Democracy
1 min read
Pronunciation
[liq-wid dih-mok-ruh-see]
Analogy
Like lending your vote to a friend for matters you don’t care about, but taking it back whenever you want to vote yourself.
Definition
A hybrid governance model combining direct and representative democracy, where participants can either vote directly on proposals or delegate their voting power to trusted delegates, and can retract or change delegations at any time.
Key Points Intro
Liquid democracy enables flexible, dynamic delegation of voting power in DAOs and communities.
Key Points
Delegable votes: Users assign voting power to delegates.
Transitive delegation: Delegates can further delegate received votes.
Revocability: Delegations can be changed at any time.
Hybrid: Mix of direct and representative voting.
Example
In a DAO, Alice delegates her tokens to Bob for technical proposals, but votes directly on economic policy proposals.
Technical Deep Dive
Governance contract tracks `delegation[delegator] = delegatee`. Voting power computed via DFS on delegation graph with cycle detection. `vote(proposal, choice)` tallies direct and delegated weights.
Security Warning
Concentration of delegated power can lead to centralization; implement delegation caps or decay.
Caveat
Complex graph algorithms needed; gas cost grows with delegation depth.
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