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entities/internet-finance/snapshot.md

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+---
+type: entity
+entity_type: company
+name: "Snapshot"
+domain: internet-finance
+handles: ["@SnapshotLabs"]
+website: https://snapshot.org
+status: active
+tracked_by: rio
+created: 2026-03-11
+last_updated: 2026-03-11
+founded: 2020-01-01
+category: "Off-chain DAO voting platform"
+stage: mature
+key_metrics:
+  dao_count: "10,000+"
+  total_votes_cast: "Millions"
+  pricing: "Free"
+competitors: ["[[tally]]", "[[metadao]]"]
+built_on: ["Ethereum", "Multi-chain"]
+tags: ["governance", "token-voting", "dao-tooling"]
+---
+
+# Snapshot
+
+## Overview
+Free off-chain voting platform. The default governance tool for DAOs — over 10,000 DAOs use Snapshot for token-weighted voting on proposals. Off-chain execution (votes are gasless, recorded on IPFS). Widely adopted because it's free and frictionless, but off-chain results are non-binding unless paired with execution layers.
+
+## Current State
+- **Adoption**: 10,000+ DAOs, including most major DeFi protocols
+- **Mechanism**: Token-weighted voting, off-chain (gasless). Results stored on IPFS.
+- **Pricing**: Free — no fees for creating spaces or running votes
+- **Limitation**: Off-chain = non-binding. Requires trust that multisig holders will execute vote results. No onchain enforcement.
+
+## Competitive Position
+- **Dominant incumbent** in DAO voting. Network effects + free pricing = high adoption inertia.
+- **vs MetaDAO/futarchy**: Fundamentally different mechanism — Snapshot uses voting (legitimacy-based), MetaDAO uses markets (information-based). Not direct competition today, but if futarchy proves superior for capital allocation decisions, Snapshot's governance model becomes the "legacy" approach.
+- **vs Tally**: Tally does onchain voting (binding execution). Snapshot does off-chain (non-binding). Different trade-offs: Snapshot is cheaper/easier, Tally is more secure.
+- **Moat**: Network effects + free = strong adoption inertia. But switching costs are actually low — DAOs can migrate governance tools without changing anything else.
+
+## Investment Thesis
+Snapshot is the token voting incumbent. If DAO governance evolves toward market-based mechanisms (futarchy) or founder-led hybrid models, Snapshot's relevance diminishes for high-stakes decisions. But for low-stakes community polling and signaling, Snapshot likely persists indefinitely. The question: does governance converge on Snapshot's model or evolve past it?
+
+**Thesis status:** WATCHING — incumbent under structural pressure from governance evolution
+
+## Relationship to KB
+- [[DAO governance degenerates into political capture because proposal processes select for coalition-building skill over operational competence and the resulting bureaucracy creates structural speed disadvantages against focused competitors]] — Snapshot enables the governance model this claim critiques
+- [[quadratic voting fails for crypto because Sybil resistance and collusion prevention are unsolvable]] — applies to Snapshot's token-weighted model (not quadratic, but same Sybil problem)
+- [[token voting DAOs offer no minority protection beyond majority goodwill]] — Snapshot facilitates this dynamic
+
+---
+
+Relevant Entities:
+- [[tally]] — onchain voting alternative
+- [[metadao]] — market-based governance alternative
+
+Topics:
+- [[internet finance and decision markets]]