Overview
The platform uses a constant product market maker (CPMM) to dynamically adjust vote entry fees based on market consensus. This creates fair, efficient pricing that rewards early voters and prevents whale manipulation.Formal Classification
Democratic Parimutuel Prediction Market with Proportional Payouts
- Pricing: Constant Product AMM
- Outcome: Democratic (1 wallet = 1 vote)
- Payouts: Plutocratic (proportional to stake)
Core Formula
The platform uses a constant product formula to calculate entry fees dynamically based on current market consensus. Entry fees adjust in real-time as votes are cast, creating a self-balancing market.Slippage Protection
Dynamic pricing creates race conditions between when a user requests a price quote and when their payment settles. Without protection, attackers could manipulate prices or users could overpay unexpectedly.Protection Mechanisms
The platform uses a three-layer defense:1. Quote Expiry (Time-Based)
1. Quote Expiry (Time-Based)
What: Quotes expire after 60 secondsWhy: Prevents stale quotes from settling hours later during rapid market movementEffect: Limits the window for sandwich attacks and forces refresh during volatility
2. Slippage Tolerance (Price-Based)
2. Slippage Tolerance (Price-Based)
What: Users specify maximum acceptable price movement (default 5%)Why: Front-running attacks are limited to the slippage toleranceEffect: Users control acceptable price movement; negative slippage (favorable price) always accepted
3. Max Amount Cap (Payment-Based)
3. Max Amount Cap (Payment-Based)
What: Pre-calculated upper price bound based on quoted price + slippageWhy: Hard cap prevents unexpected overpaymentEffect: Double-checks facilitator enforcement and protects users from extreme price spikes
Attack Prevention
This three-layer approach prevents common manipulation attacks:- Front-Running: Limited to slippage tolerance (e.g., 5% max price increase)
- Stale Quotes: Automatically rejected after 60 seconds
- Sandwich Attacks: Narrow time window and slippage caps make attacks unprofitable
Users can customize slippage tolerance via query parameter. Higher tolerance accepts more price movement; lower tolerance provides stricter protection but may require more retries.
Proportional Payouts
Winners share the total pot proportionally based on their stake.What’s in the Pot?
The total payout pot consists of two sources:- Poll Pool (Bonus): Initial USDC contributed from the treasury when the poll is created. This is a fixed bonus amount that incentivizes participation.
- Vote Entry Fees: All USDC paid by voters (both winners and losers) as entry fees to cast their votes. These fees accumulate throughout the voting period.
How Payouts Work
Each winner receives a proportional share based on how much they paid relative to all winning votes: Your Payout = (Your Entry Fee / Total Winning Entry Fees) × Total PotWhale Resistance
The platform prevents wealthy actors from dominating outcomes through two key mechanisms: 1. Democratic Voting (1 Wallet = 1 Vote) Outcomes are determined by vote count, not by money spent. To control the outcome, you need 51% of the votes - not 51% of the capital. 2. Fixed Entry Fees Unlike traditional prediction markets where you can buy unlimited shares, each vote requires paying the current entry fee - no more, no less. You cannot buy multiple votes from a single wallet.Why Whales Can’t Win
To dominate outcome
To dominate outcome
Requirement: Need 51% of votes (not 51% of money)Cost: 51 wallets × current entry feeProblem: Entry fee increases with each vote, making bulk buying exponentially expensive
To dominate payouts
To dominate payouts
Requirement: Create 51 wallets, pay 51× entry feesResult: Expensive, inefficient, and must share winnings 51 waysDisincentive: ROI is the same for all winners - no advantage to Sybil attack
Fairness Analysis
| Dimension | Verdict | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Economic | ✅ FAIR | No arbitrage, proportional rewards, info revelation |
| Democratic | ✅ FAIR | 1 wallet = 1 vote, majority wins, whale-resistant |
| Game-Theoretic | ✅ FAIR | Truth-telling incentivized, early bets rewarded |
| Distributional | ⚠️ MIXED | Early voters advantaged (by design) |
Early voters get better prices, but all winners receive the same ROI. This incentivizes participation while maintaining fairness.
Next Steps
x402 Payment
Understand the gasless voting flow