📸 Snapshot Voting: Gas-Free Governance
Learn how DAOs vote off-chain without transaction fees
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0 / 5 completed📸 Voting Power from the Past
Snapshot voting uses your token balance from a specific past block—not your current balance. Proposal created at block 1,000,000? Your voting power comes from block 999,000 (1 day earlier). This single change prevents flash loan attacks, eliminates last-minute manipulation, and costs zero gas. Used by 15,000+ DAOs including Uniswap, Aave, and Compound.
🎮 Interactive: Historical Voting Power
Adjust blocks and token balances to see how snapshot voting determines voting power from past blockchain state.
Voting power is frozen at snapshot block #999,000, which is 1,000 blocks (0 days) before current block. ✅ Typical snapshot - ~1 day ago. Buying tokens NOW won't increase your votes for this proposal!
🎯 Why Snapshot Voting Matters
Can't borrow tokens for 1 block and vote. Voting power comes from past block before proposal existed. Flash loans become useless.
Votes happen off-chain via signatures. No transaction fees. Enables broad participation without worrying about $50 gas fees per vote.
Voting power determined before proposal. Can't buy tokens during voting period to swing results. Fair and predictable.
Anyone can verify votes by checking token balances at snapshot block. Historical blockchain data is immutable proof.
📊 Real-World Usage
Snapshot.org Platform: Powers 15,000+ DAOs with 5M+ voters. Standard for off-chain governance across DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs.
Uniswap: All UNI governance votes use snapshots. ~30K voters per major proposal, zero gas costs. Saved community millions in gas fees.
Aave: Snapshot voting for temperature checks before on-chain execution. Quick sentiment gathering at zero cost.
ENS: Constitutional amendments and treasury decisions all via snapshot. Highest participation rates in DAO governance (30%+).
💡 Key Insight
Snapshot voting solves governance's biggest problem: anyone can verify your vote, but nobody pays gas. Traditional on-chain voting costs $10-100 per vote (depending on gas prices), limiting participation to whales. Snapshot makes voting free while maintaining security through cryptographic signatures and historical token balances. The snapshot block acts as a time machine—your voting power is whatever you held 1 day ago, unchangeable by current actions.