A method is not a whole institution
A citizens' assembly needs recruitment, sortition, evidence, facilitation, deliberation, and public accountability, while participatory democracy needs outreach and legitimacy and liquid democracy needs delegation rules.
Nicolas is narrower by design. It provides decision infrastructure for moments where a group can name alternatives and wants to measure support, opposition, delegation, and preference intensity.
Where Nicolas belongs
Use Nicolas after deliberation, during proposal prioritization, or inside a participatory process when the group needs a structured decision signal rather than another forum or comment thread.
The useful question is not whether quadratic voting replaces democracy. It is whether a particular democratic process needs an intensity-aware voting layer.