What Is Quadratic Funding? A Short Guide for Crypto and Public Goods

Quadratic funding (QF) is a matching mechanism that uses small donations to signal strong community support. The more unique donors a project has (and the more distributed their contributions), the more matching funds it can receive. That makes QF a powerful tool for funding public goods—open source, research, community projects—in a way that rewards broad support rather than only large whales.

How quadratic funding works

In a quadratic funding round, a matching pool is set by a sponsor (e.g. a foundation or DAO). Donors give to projects they care about. The matching formula amplifies projects that receive many small donations: the “quadratic” part means that doubling the number of donors has a bigger impact on matching than doubling the amount from the same number of donors. That reduces the advantage of a few large contributions and encourages projects to build a broad base of support.

Quadratic funding on POTLOCK

POTLOCK is the open funding stack for crypto fundraising and public goods. You can run quadratic funding rounds (pots) or donate to projects in existing rounds. Matching is distributed on-chain according to the round’s parameters. Supported assets include NEAR, ETH, SOL, BTC, stablecoins, and other chains via NEAR Intents.

• Run a round: create a pot at app.potlock.org, set the matching pool and rules, and open applications.
• Donate: connect a wallet, choose a project in an active round, and send a donation; matching is calculated automatically.
• Apply as a project: submit your project to a pot; if accepted, you can receive donations and matching.

To run or join a quadratic funding round on POTLOCK, go to app.potlock.org/pots or read the docs at docs.potlock.org.