Snapshot to launch onchain voting on Starknet

The new Snapshot X protocol uses storage proofs to enable voting without needing to bridge

September 9, 2024 01:18 pm

Snapshot and Adobe Stock modified by Blockworks

Governance voting platform Snapshot has announced the launch of Snapshot X, a new onchain voting protocol.

The new protocol will be launched on the layer-2 network Starknet and leverage the technology of “storage proofs” from Herodotus, a middleware blockchain infrastructure company.

Snapshot said in the announcement that 96% of DAOs use its platform for offchain voting.

By voting off-chain, token holders can skirt the high gas fees of the Ethereum layer-1 while signaling their early positions on key governance issues. However, votes are typically considered finalized only after an onchain vote is concluded with a separate voting platform like Tally.

In an effort to bring DAO voting onchain cheaply, the new Snapshot protocol will leverage storage proofs to verify token holdership on Ethereum layer-1 before enabling votes onchain from Starknet.

Thanks to Starknet’s support of native Ethereum cryptographic signatures, Snapshot X abstracts the use of the zk-powered layer-2 on the backend. This enables the use of popular EVM wallets like MetaMask on Snapshot X without requiring users to separately onboard to Starknet.

Like the original Snapshot protocol, Snapshot X will also be programmable and allow for different governance coordination mechanisms.

These include the various features that DAOs have historically used in governance like NFT voting, gasless signature voting, permissioned/whitelisted proposal creation and time-locked execution.

“Essentially, the point of Snapshot X is unstoppable onchain governance,” Snapshot Labs Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Musighi told Blockworks.

Snapshot Labs first raised $4 million in November 2021 in a round led by 1kx venture fund.

Updated September 10, 2024 at 12:19 pm ET: Clarified Snapshot’s announcement.

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