🛠️ Implementation: Snapshot Strategies
Learn how to configure voting strategies and token balances
Vote without gas fees using off-chain signatures
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0 / 5 completed🛠️ Implementation Strategies
Snapshot voting is a tool, not a complete governance system. You need to decide: Are votes binding or advisory? Who executes results? What happens if execution fails? Three main strategies exist: pure off-chain (fast, flexible), binding on-chain (secure, complex), or hybrid (balanced). Your choice depends on DAO maturity, treasury size, and trust assumptions.
🎮 Interactive: Strategy Comparison
Select an implementation strategy to see detailed pros, cons, best use cases, and real-world examples.
Signal Voting (Pure Off-Chain)
All voting happens on Snapshot.org, results guide multisig/core team decisions
- •Zero gas costs for voters
- •Fast iteration (create proposal in 30 seconds)
- •High participation (30%+ possible)
- •Flexible voting systems (quadratic, weighted, etc.)
- •No smart contract risks
- •Not binding - relies on multisig honoring results
- •Trust in Snapshot.org platform
- •Manual execution by core team
- •Can be ignored if team wants
- •Not "true" decentralization
Temperature checks, non-critical decisions, early-stage DAOs, high-frequency votes
Most Snapshot.org DAOs (15,000+), including Aave (governance sentiment), ENS (policy votes)
🔧 Implementation Checklist
Register your DAO on Snapshot.org. Set up space settings, branding, and voting strategies.
Choose how voting power is calculated: simple balance, delegated votes, quadratic, or custom. Configure snapshot delay (e.g., 1 day before proposal).
Quorum (e.g., 10% must vote), voting period (e.g., 5 days), who can create proposals (anyone vs minimum tokens).
Will results be binding? If yes, use SafeSnap plugin or custom oracle. If advisory, document multisig execution process.
Start with temperature checks, polls, non-binding decisions. Learn community participation patterns before high-value votes.
Write clear docs: how to create proposals, voting periods, quorum requirements, execution timeline. Publish in DAO forum/docs.
Track participation rates, identify issues (low turnout, proposal spam), adjust parameters. Governance is never "done"—it evolves.
🔌 SafeSnap Plugin
Official Gnosis Safe module that makes Snapshot votes binding. If proposal passes, multisig can execute transactions via SafeSnap—no manual copying.
📜 Custom Voting Strategies
Snapshot supports custom JavaScript functions to calculate voting power. Examples: quadratic, conviction voting, multi-token, NFT-based.
💡 Key Insight
Most DAOs start with signal voting, then add binding execution later. Why? Signal voting has zero setup cost—create space on Snapshot.org, start voting immediately. As treasury grows and stakes increase, DAOs add SafeSnap or custom execution contracts. Start simple, add complexity when needed. Don't build a binding governance system if you're voting on $10K grants. But if voting on $10M treasury transfers, binding execution + timelock is essential. Match governance complexity to decision stakes.