What is voting power?

Voting power represents how strong your neuron’s vote is and how much reward you get per vote. A proposal on the NNS is passed once enough voting power has voted to approve it. Your voting power is determined by the number of ICP utility tokens that are locked in the neuron, the neuron’s dissolve delay, and the neuron’s age. Your rewards depend on the ratio between your exerted voting power to the exerted voting power of all other neurons.

The voting power of a locked neuron is determined by several factors:

  • Principally, by its stake. 1 ICP = the power of 1 vote
  • By its dissolve delay. The bonuses scale linearly, from 6 months which grants a 1.06x voting power bonus, to 8 years which grants a 2x voting power bonus
  • By its age, or the length of time it has spent locked up without dissolving. 4 years grants a 1.25x bonus, multiplicative with any other bonuses. The bonuses for durations between 0 seconds and 4 years scale linearly between

This means that the maximum voting power, of 2.5 votes per ICP staked, is only achievable by locking up a neuron for 8 years, and leaving it in that locked state for 4 years.

Further Reading

Updated