MSCHF Plays Venmo (MPV) derives from ancient Athenian ostracism: once per year citizens came together and voted to banish one person from the city, on pain of death, for the next 10 years.

Surviving pottery shards used in these votes bear the names of famous Athenians - Socrates, and Pericles among them. Ostracism incentivized targeting the famous - only public figures were likely to receive enough votes from such a procedure.

Ostracism represents a democratic function that has no contemporary equivalent: a means for the masses to revenge themselves upon an elected official.

We tend to think our voting systems are set in stone, but they are the result of past iterations, test-server patches on democracy, that have occasionally tried what seem like bonkers rulesets. Perhaps ostracism, which levels a (semi)permaban at a limited number of users will someday find a home in moderation - where potential ban targets are placed in context of the entire citizenry, prioritizing elimination of the single worst.

To short-circuit unanimous decision-making, bump off the opposition. The extreme difficulty of the MPV “win” vote moves the action into the “ostracize” vote – until winning becomes easier, by virtue of having eliminated most of the player base.

There are, of course, other parallel paths available. For those inclined towards backdoor deals, secret handshakes, and promises of quid-pro-quo, remember that Venmo once dreamed of being a social network. Send someone one cent and you can send a message. Send a message, and perhaps you can make an ally. Make an ally and perhaps you can game the vote.