Axiom Governance
Axiom governance is the system that determines the truth for every prediction market. It replaces oracles, trusted committees, and moderators with a fully decentralized, stake-weighted process. The core principle is simple. The people with the most economic exposure have the strongest incentive to resolve markets honestly.
Axiom Governance is built on three pillars:
Optimistic resolution
Challenge and voting
Stake-based penalties and rewards
Together these create a high-speed, high-integrity resolution system that works at scale.
The Resolution Lifecycle
Every market follows the same resolution flow:
Event ends
A top 50 percent staker submits the first proposal
Challenge window opens
If unchallenged, the proposal auto-finalizes
If challenged, voting begins
If voting fails to reach consensus, the market escalates to all stakers
Once finalized, payouts and penalties are applied
This process combines speed, decentralization, and economic accountability.
Optimistic Resolution (First Come, First Served)
Axiom uses an optimistic model for efficiency. As soon as the event outcome is known, the first eligible staker in the top 50 percent can submit a proposal. They must include:
The proposed outcome
Evidence sources
Proof the event occurred as described
Once submitted, the proposal enters a challenge window (default: 6 hours).
If no one challenges it, the proposal is automatically accepted.
The proposer receives a fixed consensus bonus for submitting a correct and unchallenged resolution (default: 10 USD equivalent in the settlement asset)
Optimistic resolution ensures that most markets resolve quickly without needing a vote.
Challenge and Initial Voting (Top 50% of Stakers)
If another top 50 percent staker believes the proposal is incorrect, they can submit a challenge with an alternative outcome. This triggers a governance vote.
Voting rules:
Only top 50 percent stakers from the locked resolution epoch may vote
Vote weight equals USD stake value
Voting window is 24 hours
A proposal must:
Reach quorum (minimum 10 percent of eligible stake)
Achieve a supermajority (>66.7 percent)
If the proposal passes, the market finalizes.
If the proposal fails or the vote becomes contentious, escalation begins.
The Protocol Design defines these thresholds clearly.
Escalation to All Stakers
Escalation occurs when:
No proposal reaches the 66.7 percent threshold
Quorum is not met
The vote is split enough to be considered contentious
In this phase:
All Axiom Prime stakers become eligible voters
Weight is still based on USD stake
The same quorum and supermajority rules apply
If quorum is not reached, the vote auto-extends by 24 hours
Escalation is rare. Its purpose is to handle controversial or unclear outcomes where a wider consensus is needed.
If escalation still fails to produce a clear result, the market resolves as Invalid and all traders receive refunds.
Penalties and Rewards
Axiom uses penalties and rewards instead of bonds. This creates a clean, self-contained incentive system rooted in staked value.
Penalties
Applied at market finalization:
Incorrect proposers lose 0.20 percent of their USD stake
Incorrect voters lose 0.10 percent
These penalties are applied by burning share tokens from their vault position
Rewards
Penalties form a reward pool, which is distributed:
60 percent to the correct proposer or correct challenger
40 percent to correct voters, proportional to their stake
If the market resolved optimistically (unchallenged):
No penalty pool exists
The proposer receives the fixed consensus bonus
The market creator receives a 0.15 percent quality bonus from the market pool
Why Axiom Governance Works
Axiom’s governance model is designed to be:
Fast
Optimistic resolutions settle in hours, not days.
Decentralized
No oracles, no committees, no vote-buying, no governance tokens.
Economically aligned
Dishonest actors are penalized. Honest actors earn more stake.
Sybil-resistant
Splitting stake across multiple addresses gives no advantage.
Attack-resistant
To manipulate a market, an attacker would need to control a majority of protocol stake. This is economically irrational and self-defeating.
Scalable
Optimistic resolution covers most cases, while voting handles edge cases.
Transparent
Evidence is permanently linked onchain. All votes and penalties are publicly visible.
Axiom governance transforms market resolution into a truth-finding game with real incentives and real accountability.
Last updated