danielle
Pivian
Dark
3
Mar '17
Hi all,
First of all, I have not really investigated alternative ways of voting on proposals/decisions in other crypto currency so maybe there are already better ways/ideas out there. This post is to encourage others to discuss better ways than a proof of stake (PoS) voting.
Proof of stake has been controversial within the cryptosphere since it was first proposed. In Dash and PIVX, proof of stake is in the form of masternode holders putting up a collateral of 1000 and 10’000 coins respectively, which entitles them to a percentage of the block reward. PIVX also has staking which is a slightly fairer PoS system, but it’s still voting based on PoS.
The problem with masternodes on there own is that people who are not early adopters tend not to get the chance to have a say on future development decisions, as the entry point to owning a masternode increases. Staking in PIVX will help a little by allowing non-masternode owners the chance to vote but this still means that the biggest holders of the coin will always have more voting power.
Should the fact that you own a coin be the only factor which entitles you to make decisions (vote) on the future of it’s development?
Some people think that this is perfectly fair; they ‘bought’ the coin and then believe that this is what gives them the right to vote on it’s future developments, yet someone who does not hold the coin but has contributed positively in other ways to the development is not entitled to vote.
If the purpose of a crypto-currency is simply to allow early adopters and the founders to get rich quick then PoS voting is perfect. On the otherhand, if the idea is to have a crypto currency that can benefit everyone and gives everyone an equal say who uses it, then the idea that the more coins you hold should entitle a person to more voting power is akin to a central authority of the decision making by the wealthiest holders.
Another way to think of voting based on PoS would be like having your voting power in elections directly proportional to your salary. In other words, the less you earn the less your vote counts, while the millionaire tycoon gets to vote for everyone else on who gets in power. Sound familiar?
In the end PoS voting in the end will make the rich richer and crypto-currencies centralised in favour of the biggest holders.
So, is there a better way?
Assuming that we have no techinical hurdles in our way, what would be some of the best ways to allow people to vote on future developments and proposals of PIVX?
One Person One Vote
A one person one vote system would mimic most voting systems in the democratic world. It is not a perfect system, but it does give everyone an equal vote. This might be ideal for voting in elections but with crypto-currecies we would be voting on every decision, not just on who our ‘leaders’ are. If we just allow anyone to have an equal vote, regradless of any vested interest in making the crypto-currecy better, there could be abuse of the voting system. For example, a group who wanted to do major damage to the reputation of the coin or who wanted to sabotage future developments could easily ‘poison’ the votes unless a mechanism to ensure more voting power goes to those who have the best interest in the future of the coin.
Proof of Contribution
The idea behind Proof of Contribution (PoC) is that anyone who contributes positively to the project gains some sort of kudos points linked to the blockchain. A person could get upvoted or tipped by their peers, and accumulate kudos for their contributions to the project. This could be anything from providing support to users in a slack channel, posting on Reddit, creating or linking positive Youtube video’s, aiding with development tasks, helping marketing the coin, creating content, etc.
Kudos for voting
The more kudos users accumulate the more weight the user will have when voting on future decisions of the coin. It will ensure that the more powerful votes actully come from those who actively contribute positivly to the project and regardless of how many coins they hold. To avoid gaming the voting system by people who have stopped contributing, kudos points could decrease gradually over time. This would incentivise the user to continue to contribute to the project.
Kudos for selling
If someone has accumulated a lot of kudos over time they could choose to trade this for actual coins. This would obvioulsy reduce their voting power but some people might not care about voting and be more interest in the money. This is also an incentive to get paid for making positive contributions to the project.
Idea’s to implement
A mechanism to implement PoC based kudos could be for users to have a special PoC public key in the blockchain which they can link to in their online accounts on reddit, slack, github, etc. When someone gives kudos by upvoting or tips a post, for example, this would credit the kudos for that user against their PoC in the blockchain. As a way to avoid spammed upvoting, user could have to purchase kudos used to tip others.
Methods against gaming the system would be required. For example, someone could potentially just purchase a load of ‘kudos’ and send it to themselves somehow, essentially buying voting power. Maybe there could be limits on how much Kudos can be purchased or sent to someone or maybe purchasing kudos is not the best idea and can only be sent once earned from someone else.
This is just an idea - please contribute to the discussion - I’d love to hear your views and ideas
3
Mar '17
Hi all,
First of all, I have not really investigated alternative ways of voting on proposals/decisions in other crypto currency so maybe there are already better ways/ideas out there. This post is to encourage others to discuss better ways than a proof of stake (PoS) voting.
Proof of stake has been controversial within the cryptosphere since it was first proposed. In Dash and PIVX, proof of stake is in the form of masternode holders putting up a collateral of 1000 and 10’000 coins respectively, which entitles them to a percentage of the block reward. PIVX also has staking which is a slightly fairer PoS system, but it’s still voting based on PoS.
The problem with masternodes on there own is that people who are not early adopters tend not to get the chance to have a say on future development decisions, as the entry point to owning a masternode increases. Staking in PIVX will help a little by allowing non-masternode owners the chance to vote but this still means that the biggest holders of the coin will always have more voting power.
Should the fact that you own a coin be the only factor which entitles you to make decisions (vote) on the future of it’s development?
Some people think that this is perfectly fair; they ‘bought’ the coin and then believe that this is what gives them the right to vote on it’s future developments, yet someone who does not hold the coin but has contributed positively in other ways to the development is not entitled to vote.
If the purpose of a crypto-currency is simply to allow early adopters and the founders to get rich quick then PoS voting is perfect. On the otherhand, if the idea is to have a crypto currency that can benefit everyone and gives everyone an equal say who uses it, then the idea that the more coins you hold should entitle a person to more voting power is akin to a central authority of the decision making by the wealthiest holders.
Another way to think of voting based on PoS would be like having your voting power in elections directly proportional to your salary. In other words, the less you earn the less your vote counts, while the millionaire tycoon gets to vote for everyone else on who gets in power. Sound familiar?
In the end PoS voting in the end will make the rich richer and crypto-currencies centralised in favour of the biggest holders.
So, is there a better way?
Assuming that we have no techinical hurdles in our way, what would be some of the best ways to allow people to vote on future developments and proposals of PIVX?
One Person One Vote
A one person one vote system would mimic most voting systems in the democratic world. It is not a perfect system, but it does give everyone an equal vote. This might be ideal for voting in elections but with crypto-currecies we would be voting on every decision, not just on who our ‘leaders’ are. If we just allow anyone to have an equal vote, regradless of any vested interest in making the crypto-currecy better, there could be abuse of the voting system. For example, a group who wanted to do major damage to the reputation of the coin or who wanted to sabotage future developments could easily ‘poison’ the votes unless a mechanism to ensure more voting power goes to those who have the best interest in the future of the coin.
Proof of Contribution
The idea behind Proof of Contribution (PoC) is that anyone who contributes positively to the project gains some sort of kudos points linked to the blockchain. A person could get upvoted or tipped by their peers, and accumulate kudos for their contributions to the project. This could be anything from providing support to users in a slack channel, posting on Reddit, creating or linking positive Youtube video’s, aiding with development tasks, helping marketing the coin, creating content, etc.
Kudos for voting
The more kudos users accumulate the more weight the user will have when voting on future decisions of the coin. It will ensure that the more powerful votes actully come from those who actively contribute positivly to the project and regardless of how many coins they hold. To avoid gaming the voting system by people who have stopped contributing, kudos points could decrease gradually over time. This would incentivise the user to continue to contribute to the project.
Kudos for selling
If someone has accumulated a lot of kudos over time they could choose to trade this for actual coins. This would obvioulsy reduce their voting power but some people might not care about voting and be more interest in the money. This is also an incentive to get paid for making positive contributions to the project.
Idea’s to implement
A mechanism to implement PoC based kudos could be for users to have a special PoC public key in the blockchain which they can link to in their online accounts on reddit, slack, github, etc. When someone gives kudos by upvoting or tips a post, for example, this would credit the kudos for that user against their PoC in the blockchain. As a way to avoid spammed upvoting, user could have to purchase kudos used to tip others.
Methods against gaming the system would be required. For example, someone could potentially just purchase a load of ‘kudos’ and send it to themselves somehow, essentially buying voting power. Maybe there could be limits on how much Kudos can be purchased or sent to someone or maybe purchasing kudos is not the best idea and can only be sent once earned from someone else.
This is just an idea - please contribute to the discussion - I’d love to hear your views and ideas