Business,Operations,GuideModule 4.6

Module 4.7

Snapshot – Decentralized Governance Voting

One of the core elements of a DAO is how decisions are made. Snapshot is a popular off-chain voting platform that many DAOs (including Bittrees) use for governance votes. It allows token holders to vote on proposals without incurring gas fees, by signing messages off-chain. Snapshot has become a standard because on-chain voting (executing votes directly on Ethereum) can be very costly; Snapshot provides a secure but gasless alternative by taking advantage of cryptographic signatures.

How Snapshot works:

Bittrees would create a “space” on Snapshot (for example, a space named Bittrees, Inc or other). This space is configured with what token(s) represent voting power (for us, the governance token for gov.bittrees.eth is ‘BGOV’). Bittrees, Inc (gov.bittrees.eth) represents the central committee for Bittrees, Inc, our operations company. Here we vote and make decisions around top level policies and strategies for Bittrees, Inc.
A proposal is created on the Snapshot space. This typically includes a title, description, options to vote on (e.g., “Yes / No”, or multiple choices), a voting window (start and end time), and which token and block snapshot to count votes from. The term “snapshot” refers to the idea that token holdings are recorded at a specific block number – only those balances at that block count, to prevent people acquiring tokens mid-vote to sway it.
Eligible voters (e.g., all addresses holding BGOV tokens) can cast their vote through the Snapshot website. They will connect their wallet, choose an option, and then sign a message that contains their vote. No on-chain transaction is executed; it’s just a digital signature attesting “Address X votes Option A on Proposal Y.”
Once the voting period ends, the Snapshot tallies the votes based on the signed messages and the token balances (via an underlying strategy that reads balances from the blockchain at the specified snapshot block). The result is displayed on the platform.

Because it doesn’t cost gas, participation is easy and open. However, since it’s off-chain, the execution of the decision is not automatic on-chain (unless paired with something like the Safe oSnap module mentioned earlier). Usually, after a Snapshot vote passes, the relevant leaders assigned to the safe account would then carry out the decision manually (e.g., if the vote was to fund a certain project, the multi-sig safe would then be used to send funds as per the approved proposal).

Snapshot in Bittrees governance: We use Snapshot for:

Electing roles or making decisions on proposals for new projects.
Ratifying budget allocations, tokenomics changes, or governing strategies.
Any major decision where we want the community of token holders to have a direct say.

For instance, suppose there is a proposal: “Should Bittrees, Inc sponsor Project X with $10,000 from the treasury?” The team would write up a detailed proposal, possibly discuss it on forums or meetings, then post it on Snapshot as an official vote. All BGOV token holders (our governance token) would be notified (often via Telegram or our platform) and given a time window to vote. Once voting ends, if “Yes” wins with sufficient quorum, the governing board for gov.bittrees.eth would then execute that sponsorship payment via the Safe, knowing it has the tokenholders’ support.

Snapshot is described as a “gasless decentralized voting” tool . It’s a web2 interface with web3 authentication (via wallets). The signed votes are stored typically on decentralized storage (like IPFS) so they are auditable.

From a legacy comparison, Snapshot is like a secure online voting system for shareholders

Imagine a company emailing all shareholders a ballot that they can sign and return, and then tallying votes. But here, ownership of tokens is the eligibility and signing with your private key proves your identity (instead of signature on paper or login).
It removes the need for notaries, proxies, or central vote counters – the process is transparent (everyone can see the vote result and with some effort verify that signatures and balances matched up).

Using Snapshot as an ops member:

You may help in creating proposals. Typically, only authorized accounts can create proposals on the official space to avoid spam. If you are tasked with governance, you’ll draft proposals and publish them.
You might also coordinate voting drives: reminding holders to vote, ensuring quorum is met, possibly educating new voters on how to use Snapshot.
After votes, you will likely be involved in implementing the outcome. That might mean writing a summary of the decision, scheduling transactions, or updating any off-chain records.
Keep records of proposals – Snapshot itself keeps history, but it’s good to log what actions were taken post-vote for transparency (e.g., “Proposal #5 approved – executed payment on 01/10/2025, see Etherscan link…”).

Snapshot doesn’t require any token spend, but it does require that people hold the governance tokens. In Bittrees, the governance token for Bittrees, Inc. is BGOV, which is obtained by spending 1000 BTREE tokens for each BGOV.

Contributors are rewarded BTREE for their contributions (like reward points).
They can spend BTREE to aquire BGOV to gain voting power in governance.

Either way, Snapshot will look at BGOV balances. So part of onboarding might involve explaining how one can acquire governance tokens.

For you, ensure your wallet is set up to interact with Snapshot:

It’s simply connecting your wallet at snapshot.org.
There is no separate key or login.

One more concept: Quorum and Voting power calculations. Snapshot strategies can be simple (1 token = 1 vote) or complex (could weight based on reputation, NFT holdings etc). Our governance likely uses 1 BGOV = 1 vote. We also have a quorum requirement (1260 BGOV) and maybe a majority or supermajority threshold depending on proposal type. Make sure to review the historical snapshots where the governance framework was established there per BIP0.

Module 4.8 -- Additional Technical Concepts (Full-Stack, UI/UX, API)