# Downvoting and Influence reducing

Sponsor can, at any moment, perform a Downvoting and reduce their Influence[^1] by any amount of VOTs. To do this, they give their VOTs to the AMM and receive back their "attention energy" (measured in POPX). The reve[^2]rse exchange takes place at the current Downvote price, which is calculated as described in the "[Tokenomics of VOTs](https://docs.popularex.com/v.-tokenomics-of-vots#influence)" section.

If a user returns all of their VOTs to the AMM, their Influence will become equal to 0, however, the Influence of the remaining ToP sponsors will remain unchanged. The [Downvote price ](https://docs.popularex.com/v.-tokenomics-of-vots#downvote-price)increases alongside the growing popularity of the ToP and the rising demand for VOTs. After each voting event, the Downvote price always remains lower than the actual cost of acquiring VOTs. This difference is mathematically limited and fluctuates within 20%. According to the formula, the higher the volume of Influence acquired by the sponsor, the lower the actual cost of acquiring VOTs. The exception is the first VOTs minting, as their actual acquisition cost equals the Downvote Price.

This Upvoting and Downvoting mechanism helps to achieve the following goals:

* Motivates users to launch and promote new popularity tokens to become the first General Sponsor;
* Eliminates speculation on VOTs, making them a suitable instrument for crypto-voting;
* Allows users to retain at least 80% of their "attention energy" and redirect it to other ToPs if desired.

[^1]: Influence represents a user's impact on the popularity of a token and the reputation of the associated popularity object. It shows how much a user can affect the token's rating and popularity, as well as the reputation of the related popularity object, by upvoting (Upvoting) or downvoting (Downvoting) using their acquired votes (VOTs). More Influence means a greater impact on the final voting outcome and overall reputation.

[^2]: