What is Snapshot?

Snapshot is a governance platform where DAOs and other online communities can publish proposals and vote. Classic Snapshot records votes offchain as messages signed with a wallet; an ordinary vote does not require gas. Each community has a page known as a space.

What does Snapshot record?

A proposal brings together choices, dates and voting results. The space’s strategies assign voting power using token balances, delegated votes or other conditions. The historical block used for the calculation is distinct from today’s wallet balance.

An accepted result does not, by itself, execute a treasury transaction. A community may rely on signers, a separate mechanism such as SafeSnap, or another execution path. Snapshot X is an onchain governance protocol and should not be confused with classic Snapshot’s operating model.

Example

Suppose a community uses Snapshot to choose an education project to fund. If its strategy assigns one unit of voting power per eligible token, a participant holding 200 tokens at the snapshot can vote with a weight of 200. Even when quorum and the passing condition are met, payment still follows the treasury’s defined execution process.

Our Snapshot review follows a real proposal’s result panel and voting-power distribution.