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ETHTurin Hackathon:

A Quadratic Voting Story

Intro: fanny to introduce the collaboration and go directly to QV

Hello.

Present people.

Fanny

Matteo Tambussi, co-organizer of Ethturin. Blockchain investor based in turin. Former livepeer, he now focuses on Urban farming & audio distribution projects.

Giovani di lauro, technical lead for Ethturin, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER in blockchain and finance & CHAPTER LEAD RXC ITALY

Victor, co-founder of deora.earth, and strategy & business @leapdao .

=> we all met at ETHBERLIN last year in august and then connected at the rxc conference in berlin as well. This is how we started collaborating on a local impacgt and esg focused hackathon for blockchain developers who use ethereum,

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A consistent point that came back during the conference (we are at hour 42 out of 48) and it is the fact that we need more storytelling to spread the word and bring more attention and more understanding of mechanism designs like quadratic voting or cost or data dividend.

So let us tell you the story of Quadratic voting who planned to go to Italy to attend a blockchain hackathon and could not because a worldwide pandemic happened.

It is not however a novel like the brilliant one SImon de la rouviere wrote and presented right before this talk.

But reality sometimes goes beyond fiction.

ETHTURIN hackathon was organized in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic by a small group of people tied to RadicalxChange. Challenging times call for innovation and creative solutions, and ETHTURIN did not fall short of it.

We will present how a local in-person hackathon was switched online successfully thanks to the Ethereum community, decentralized tools and a lot of energy.

The focus will be on the innovative use of quadratic voting and NFTs (non fungible tokens) to allow all participants to vote for the hackathon winning project, thanks to the Deora Earth team. An important use case for Quadratic Voting that has a bright future.

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A QUICK PRIMER ON QV

What is Quadratic Voting (QV)

Radical alternative to 1 person - 1 vote concept

Using a voice credit to purchase votes

4 credits buy 2 votes, 100 credits buy 10 votes

Voting mechanism which indicates direction & magnitude

People give ground on issues that they care less about,�in exchange for a stronger voice on the issues they care about

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A QUICK PRIMER ON QV

Why does QV reduce the tyranny of the riches (judges)?

Implementation of Mechanism Design protocols
Marginal Cost and Marginal Benefit in agents’ decisions
QV makes marginal cost growth constant (economists do like it)
Easy concept to grasp but very powerful in Economics theory
Voting democratization against “tyranny of judges”
Participants have more “economic” power to push the projects that are perceived to solve important problems to them

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QV: benefits through an example 1/2

How many votes will an agent buy? Constant Cost

MC = Marginal Cost, MG = Marginal Gain
Assume 100 at stack. MG = 10
Assume constant vote price of 7 (constant MC)
The agent spends 98 to buy 14 votes
More money more votes!
An agent with 60 to spend can buy just 8 votes
6 votes difference between the agents
Can quadratic voting brings more justice in the game?

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QV: benefits through an example 2/2

How many votes will an agent buy? Quadratic Voting

One vote -> spend 1. MC = 1; (1 < 10) => BUY!
Two votes -> spend 4. MC = 4 -1 = 3; (3 < 10) => BUY!
Three votes -> spend 9. MC = 9 -4 = 5; (5 < 10) => BUY!
Four votes -> spend 16. MC = 16 - 9 = 7; (7 < 10) => BUY!
Five votes -> spend 25. MC = 25 - 16 = 9; (9 < 10) => BUY!
Six votes -> spend 36. MC = 36 - 25 = 11; (11 > 10) => STOP!
The MC increases constantly by a factor of 2 (first derivative of x²)
An agent with 60 to spend (ceteris paribus) buys 5 votes as well (paying 25)
Both the agents have the same voting power (assuming rational decisions)

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QV + Ethereum Ecosystem

Added value of the Ethereum ecosystem to QV

Blockchain technology enables trial & study in self-governance

Distributed & efficient, opens the stage for truly radical mechanisms

Ethereum mainnet provides security, while layer2 has the throughput

Connecting technology & knowledge to achieve a shift from laboratory of state to laboratory of networks

The complete setup is open-source & available to everyone

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QV + Ethereum Ecosystem

Added value of the Ethereum ecosystem to QV

Main parts of running QV Dapp are build with ETH infrastructure:

Burner Wallet v1 - by austin griffith
Leap Plasma Chain - by LeapDAO
2 Token’s

Voice Credits
Voting Token

3 Smart Contract’s - Deora Github Repo

Voting Booth
Ballot Box
Trash Box

Voice Credit Faucet - by LeapDAO
NFT - by Mintbase.io

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QV + Ethereum Ecosystem

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

RESULTS

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

RELEVANT INTEGRATIONS TO THE ECOSYSTEM

BREAKING NEWS:

First integration of ERC721 (NFT Tickets) and on-chain Quadratic Voting

OPEN PROBLEMS:

Zero Knowledge dilemma
Last minute run to Metamask & NFTs for non crypto attendees
Improve participation rate (with a final raffle with Quadratic Fundg for the voter?)
Identity of the voters
Quadratic Voting in a Decentralized ID System

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

Timeline

ETHBERLIN

ZWEI

Aug 2019

DIGITAL ITALY

SUMMIT

Nov 2019

RXC CONFERENCE

BERLIN

Nov 2019

WEF 2020

DAVOS

Jan 2020

COVID19

LOCKDOWN

Feb 2020

ETHTURIN

Apr 2020

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

Focus Hackathon

SDGs

Local Impact

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

SDGs (Local Impact) = Clusters of Agendas

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

Addressing peripheral aims�does not contradict core objectives. �It creates Holons, social molecules�strengthened by shared knowledge.

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

SDGs (Local Impact) = Resonance (Clusters of Agendas)

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

Adoption of Radical Markets and Crypto�is where digital nomads meet dwellers

TESTLAB w/ OFFLINE SOCIAL BONDS

TROUBLE-SHOOTING

w/ LOCAL PA

ENGAGE NEIGHBORHOOD

& CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE CONTEXT

The rise of Local DeFi or MiDeFi

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE RESULT

Two Main Tracks: 1. DISCORD for ALL DEVELOPMENT WORK

90 hackers
20 mentors
Animated by the ETHTURIN staff
Hacks submitted by Google Form

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE RESULT

Two Main Tracks: 2. INTERSPACE for all CONFERENCE TALKS

2 days of live, interactive talks, panels �and workshops focused on Ethereum, local implementations and SDG, and COVID19

2 stages: Main Stage & Mentor Ring

1 crypto-art exhibition of Italian artists in Cryptovoxels

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NO BULLSHIT

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE RESULT

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

THE RESULT

Nine Submitted Hacks �-> Three Winners

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CONCLUSION: �WHAT OPPORTUNITIES WE IDENTIFIED

A replicable model to other local hackathons: ETHLOCAL
Include people from other academic environments creates bridges and facilitates MVPs
V-Hackathons are more economical, not less inclusive and better for the environment
About Quadratic Voting and V-Hackathons:

V-Hackathons do not need a selected jury, and voting for multiple preferences is facilitated
The intensity is well represented
Incentivizes registration to events and attendance
Anti-plutocratic (more NFTs in wallet = same voicing credits for ETHTurin voting phase).
Negative Voting left to try
Meritocratic scenarios (accumulation of Digital Kudos/NFTs grants more voicing credits*) => incentivizes active participation.

* to prevent over-throwing influence, this could work as: Number of Voicing Credits = √(number of NFTs).

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ETHTURIN VIRTUAL HACKATHON

WHAT’S NEXT

Deora.earth
ETHTURIN
How to be part of the conversation and experiments