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MetaDAO & Futarchy
Manna uses MetaDAO as its governance framework. MetaDAO implements futarchy — a governance model where decisions are made through prediction markets rather than direct voting.
What is Futarchy?
Futarchy is based on a simple idea:
"Vote on values, bet on beliefs." — Robin Hanson
Instead of asking token holders "Should we do X?", futarchy asks the market "Will X make the protocol more valuable?"
How It Works
1. Proposal Submission
Anyone can submit a governance proposal — a concrete action for the protocol to take.
2. Conditional Markets
Two markets are created:
- Pass market: "What will MANNA be worth if this proposal is implemented?"
- Fail market: "What will MANNA be worth if this proposal is rejected?"
3. Trading Period
Participants buy and sell conditional tokens on both markets. The prices reflect the market's collective belief about the proposal's impact on MANNA's value.
4. Resolution
- If the pass market price > fail market price → Proposal passes
- If the fail market price > pass market price → Proposal fails
- The losing market is unwound (participants are refunded)
- The winning market settles normally
Why Futarchy?
| Feature | Token Voting | Futarchy |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides? | Token holders | Anyone with a view |
| Incentive | None (voting is free) | Financial (skin in the game) |
| Information | Voters may be uninformed | Markets aggregate information |
| Outcome | Majority preference | Best expected outcome |
| Manipulation | Vote buying, bribes | Costly to manipulate (need to move markets) |
Key Benefits
- Skin in the game — participants risk capital on their beliefs, so only informed views carry weight
- Information aggregation — markets are efficient at pooling distributed knowledge
- Resistant to manipulation — moving a market price is expensive and self-correcting
- Meritocratic — good judgment is rewarded, regardless of token holdings