How Does Quadratic Voting Mathematically Limit Whale Influence in Crypto Governance?

Quadratic voting assigns voting power proportional to the square root of the tokens held, not the linear amount. This means a holder with 100 tokens gets 10 votes (sqrt(100)), while a holder with 10,000 tokens gets 100 votes (sqrt(10,000)).

The cost for a whale to increase their voting power grows exponentially, making it significantly more expensive for them to dominate than for smaller holders to coordinate. This mechanism promotes broader participation.