Tldr; Gitcoin DAO, the group that oversees the public goods funding platform Gitcoin, now uses oSnap to distribute treasury payments. With oSnap’s total value secured now at $689 million, this move signals oSnap’s growing standing in the DAO ecosystem.
Key takeaways:
Gitcoin DAO has deployed oSnap for treasury distributions as it commits to trustless optimistic governance.
The integration makes Gitcoin DAO’s governance process more seamless while saving community members time and gas costs.
The DAO is specifically using oSnap for treasury payments. The integration does not impact other Snapshot votes unrelated to the treasury.
Gitcoin DAO has deployed oSnap for treasury distributions. With this update, the group can optimistically execute transactions onchain based on governance decisions without falling back to a central party. The proposal to integrate oSnap passed a governance vote last month with 98.67% of respondents voting in favor. Gitcoin DAO joins the likes of CoW DAO, Across Protocol, and Connext to use the solution for optimistic governance.
Gitcoin DAO oversees Gitcoin, the decentralized funding platform that’s become a staple of the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystem. Since launching in 2017, Gitcoin has used Quadratic Funding to allocate over $50 million to public goods projects like Uniswap and EIP-1559. In recent months, Gitcoin has been focused on evolving into Gitcoin 2.0 — turning its attention to new EVM chains, new funding mechanisms, and decentralization. The DAO’s oSnap integration marks a clear step on its mission to become fully decentralized.
Gitcoin DAO uses its treasury to make payments to projects that receive funding through its various programs. oSnap helps the DAO distribute funds with greater efficiency while staying true to its decentralized ethos. It will also benefit community members, saving them time and unnecessary gas spending.
This update places Gitcoin DAO alongside several leading DAOs to double down on optimistic governance. It also signals oSnap’s growing importance in the DAO ecosystem.
How oSnap works
oSnap is short for “Optimistic Snapshot Execution.”
oSnap is a tool that helps DAOs execute the results of governance votes onchain in a decentralized manner. Developed by UMA and Gnosis Guild, it uses Snapshot’s gasless voting mechanism with Safe wallets to remove the need for trusted third parties or multisig wallets.
oSnap is secured by UMA’s optimistic oracle. When a DAO passes a proposal in a Snapshot vote, the result gets asserted to UMA with a bond. Transactions automatically get executed unless someone raises a dispute. A bond also needs to be posted to raise a dispute, after which $UMA tokenholders vote to resolve whether the proposer or disputer is correct. UMA’s game theoretical mechanism incentivizes every actor in the system to vote honestly, meaning only valid transactions get executed onchain.
Since launching in February 2023, oSnap has become an important tool for the DAO ecosystem. It secures DAO treasuries for a host of key Web3 projects, including Across Protocol, Connext, and CoW DAO. Gitcoin holds about $23.8 million in its treasury, bringing oSnap’s total value secured to $689 million.
How Gitcoin DAO is using oSnap
To date, DAOs have integrated oSnap to make treasury distributions. These have included covering operational costs, issuing loans, and reimbursing funds. Similarly, Gitcoin DAO has integrated oSnap specifically for its treasury-related affairs. Gitcoin DAO primarily uses oSnap to allocate funds to grant recipients.
This does not include other governance matters, which will be handled separately by the community via Snapshot.
Integrating the solution for treasury distributions has several benefits. First, Gitcoin DAO will be able to operate more efficiently. The DAO previously used a combination of Snapshot for offchain voting and Tally for onchain execution, which resulted in delays, repeat votes, and gas spending. Now, passed proposals will get executed automatically and community members will only have to participate in one gasless vote. Additionally, oSnap helps Gitcoin DAO achieve its goal to become a fully decentralized entity.
Gitcoin DAO is responsible for managing the treasury for the Gitcoin project. Gitcoin is a pioneering Web3 project best known for its decentralized crowdfunding program, which collects donations from the crypto community to distribute to deserving public goods projects. Gitcoin has distributed over $50 million in funds to many of Web3’s most vital projects.
Last year, Gitcoin turned its focus to Gitcoin 2.0, an overhaul that introduces new funding mechanisms, an expansion to new EVM chains, and a decentralized modular stack. In integrating oSnap, Gitcoin DAO is moving forward with Gitcoin’s decentralization plans.
The future of DAO governance is optimistic
Gitcoin DAO has become the latest organization to integrate oSnap to oversee its treasury. By putting DAO governance in the control of their communities, oSnap’s early partners have brought more decentralization and autonomy to their governance flows.
They have also reaffirmed our belief in the core vision underpinning oSnap: the future of DAO governance is optimistic. oSnap is helping DAOs optimistically execute decisions onchain trustlessly and efficiently. With $689 million secured, it’s clear that oSnap is already catering to the ecosystem’s needs in its first year. We look forward to helping more DAOs embrace optimistic governance in 2024.
oSnap is free to integrate and only takes a few minutes to turn on. It’s been audited by OpenZeppelin. To learn more about integrating the solution into your project, please fill out our partnerships form or visit the oSnap website.
Words by @dreamsofdefi
