Terrill Dickey
November 4, 2024 21:58
As the US election approaches, the potential of blockchain in democratic processes is gaining attention, with liquid democracy and on-chain voting coming to the forefront.
As the United States prepares for the November 5 election, conversations about the role of blockchain technology in the democratic process have intensified. According to the a16z cryptocurrency, the revival of citizen assemblies and the exploration of ‘liquid’ democracy are gaining traction along with the advancement of on-chain voting mechanisms.
On-chain voting and liquid democracy
Liquid democracy, an idea popularized by 19th-century thinker Lewis Carroll, allows individuals to vote directly on issues or delegate their voting rights to representatives. This once impractical concept is now being implemented by cryptocurrency projects, providing valuable data on its effectiveness. Research by Stanford political scientists Andrew Hall and Sho Miyazaki analyzed on-chain data from 18 Ethereum DAOs and revealed the following key insights:
- 17% of voting rights are delegated.
- Smaller token holders are more likely to delegate voting.
- Active voters tend to attract more delegates.
- Online tools that help voters find and evaluate delegates can increase participation rates by as much as 25%.
To strengthen cryptocurrency community participation, Hall suggests creating a delegation hub, providing voters with clear information, and encouraging them to vote and delegate more often.
Revival of Ancient Practices: Classification
Classification, or ‘rule by lottery’, is another method of governance that is experiencing a modern revival. This ancient Athenian practice of delegating decision-making to randomly selected citizens is now being adopted by companies like Meta and OpenAI to influence policy decisions. Political scientists Bailey Flanigan and Andrew Hall discuss this trend in the latest episode of web3 via the a16z podcast.
Cryptocurrency’s political influence
As cryptocurrencies become a major political issue, bipartisan legislation is expected to feature prominently on the next administration’s agenda. Integrating blockchain into governance not only improves transparency, but also fits into the broader trend of decentralization in technology.
For more information on these topics, please visit the original article on a16z encryption.
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