Conviction Voting
A novel continuous decision-making mechanism that allows votes to accumulate weight over time according to a halflife algorithm
What is Conviction Voting?
Conviction Voting is a decision-making process in which voters continuously express their preference by staking tokens in support of proposals. The conviction (weight) of their vote grows over time, and proposals pass when they reach an algorithmically-set threshold.
Continuous Voting
Express your preferences continuously, not just during time-boxed voting periods. Change your vote at any time.
Conviction Growth
Your vote weight grows over time according to a halflife algorithm, giving more influence to long-term community members.
Attack Resistant
Sidesteps sybil attacks and provides collusion resistance through time-weighted mechanisms.
Human-Centric
Captures human needs in temporal data flows, ensuring people remain central to automated systems.
The Halflife Algorithm
Conviction Voting uses an exponential decay function (halflife) to manage how support charges up and down for proposals.
When you start supporting a proposal, your support (conviction) doesn't immediately apply. Instead, it charges up over time according to a halflife function.
- •After 2 days (48 hours): conviction reaches 1/2 of potential value
- •After 4 days: conviction reaches 3/4 of potential value
- •After 6 days: conviction reaches 7/8 of potential value
- •The process continues asymptotically toward full value
Conviction Growth Rate
Determines how quickly support charges up and down (typically 48 hours halflife)
Spending Limit
Maximum proportion of funds that can be requested by any single proposal (e.g., 10%)
Minimum Conviction
Minimum threshold required for small proposals to prevent spam (typically 2.5%)
Effective Stake
Minimum percent of token supply used to calculate thresholds (typically 20%)
Why Conviction Voting?
Traditional time-boxed voting has shown limited effectiveness in distributed communities. Conviction Voting offers a better alternative for continuous, human-centric decision making.
No Time Pressure
Vote whenever you want without coordinating around specific voting periods
Reduced Voter Fatigue
Set your preferences once and they persist until you change them
Better Signal Quality
Long-term community members have more influence than short-term participants
Attack Resistance
Time-weighting makes vote-buying and last-minute coordination attacks less effective
Continuous Data
Rich temporal data streams enable responsive and adaptive governance
Funds Allocation
Specifically designed from first principles for allocating shared treasury resources
Learn More
Explore articles, papers, and technical resources to deepen your understanding of Conviction Voting.