🔖 Off-Chain Voting: IPFS + Signatures
Understand how votes are recorded without blockchain transactions
Vote without gas fees using off-chain signatures
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0 / 5 completed💰 Gas-Free Voting via Signatures
Snapshot votes happen off-chain—you sign a message with your wallet, no transaction submitted. Your signature proves you controlled X tokens at snapshot block. Zero gas costs. Snapshot.org aggregates signatures and displays results. For critical decisions, results can be executed on-chain via a separate transaction (paid by DAO treasury, not voters).
🎮 Interactive: Cost Comparison Calculator
Compare gas costs and participation rates between on-chain voting (traditional) and off-chain snapshot voting. Adjust gas price and voter count to see real-world impact.
Using snapshot voting saves $8 per proposal for the community. Over 100 proposals/year, that's 0.0M+ saved!
🔐 How Off-Chain Voting Works
DAO creates proposal with snapshot block (e.g., current block - 7,200 = 1 day ago). Voting period starts (typically 3-7 days).
You connect wallet to Snapshot.org, sign message with your choice (Yes/No/Abstain). No transaction, no gas cost. Signature proves you control wallet that held X tokens at snapshot block.
Snapshot.org collects all signatures, verifies each signature matches a wallet with tokens at snapshot block, calculates results. Everything happens in their database—not on blockchain.
Results shown on Snapshot.org. Anyone can verify by checking: (1) each signature is valid, (2) each wallet had claimed token balance at snapshot block. All data public.
For binding votes, DAO multisig or governance contract executes result on-chain. DAO pays gas, not voters. For sentiment polls, results stay off-chain.
✅ Advantages
⚠️ Trade-offs
💡 Key Insight
Off-chain voting separates voting (free, gasless signatures) from execution (on-chain, costs gas). This is the key innovation. Voters sign intent, DAO executes if passed. Like signing a petition—your signature is free, but implementing the change costs money (paid by someone else). Result: 10-30x higher participation because small holders aren't priced out by $50 gas fees. Governance becomes accessible, not just for whales.