Hello folks!
With the recent integration of Subsquare as our new Governance User Interface, one of the biggest changes to our Governance process will be the off-chain polls. Currently, those polls take place here on the Forum, but these will be replaced by snapshot voting - so in this post, I will clarify how they work, as a preparation for when we start using Subsquare for our off-chain polls on both Centrifuge and Altair.
In general, polls act as temperature check for the sentiment around a proposal and they are not binding. However, in some cases where there is no need for on-chain vote, they actually can be binding - like with the proposal to integrate Subsquare (see the poll here).
What is snapshot voting?
So what is snapshot voting? To those of you, who are not familiar with snapshot voting, the easiest way to look at them is an “off-chain vote using on-chain data”. So what does that mean?
When a snapshot vote is created, the block number is registered, and by default, that will be the block that determines the voting power of those who vote in the poll. In other words, the voting power will be determined by the amount of tokens they held in that particular block number.
Example:
A snapshot vote (poll) is created at block #1099499 on Centrifuge. The voting power of everyone voting in the poll is determined by the amount of CFG they held at that particular block.
Where does snapshot voting take place?
The snapshot voting is called OpenSquare voting and there are two ways to access it:
- Direct links
- Centrifuge: Centrifuge off-chain voting
- Altair: Altair off-chain voting
- Via the menu on Subsquare
How do you create a snapshot vote?
To create a snapshot vote, go to the desired chain (see above) and connect your wallet:
If you are navigating via the menu on Subsquare (point 2 above), and you are already logged in there, you don’t need to log in again.
Select New Proposal.
Now you should see this screen:
- Give the poll a title (e.g. Poll: Integrating Subsquare as Governance UI)
- Write a description of the poll, along with the link to the RFC on the Forum
- Click to add the options (typically Yes/No but this can also be other options than just Yes/No)
- Select whether the poll is Single choice voting (you can only select one option) or Multiple choice voting (you can select more options)
- Select the start and end date and time (snapshot votes should run for 7 or 14 days)
- Press Publish, sign with your Polkadot.js browser extension and the poll is created
Now the poll can be voted on by any CFG holder - the token balance (your voting power) at the snapshot block is displayed below the options. Simply select your option, press Vote, sign with your Polkadot.js browser extension and your vote is registered.
Your vote will be visible below and the results are updated.
- In order to both create and participate in a snapshot vote, you currently need minimum 1 CFG in your wallet (this can be customised and hence changed in the future).
- There are no fees associated with a snapshot vote, and no on-chain transactions are made. This also means that there is no lock-up of tokens.
- If you have more than one wallet with tokens, you can connect each of them separately to vote with all of them.
- In order for a snapshot vote to be deemed valid, the threshold has been set to 5,000,000 CFG (currently ~1% of total supply).
When do we need to create a snapshot vote?
A snapshot vote/poll is the second step in our Governance process. After the discussion around a proposal (RFC) has taken place, the next step is always to create a poll to get a feeling about what other community members think about the proposal.
If there are any questions to the Governance process and/or the snapshot voting using OpenSquare voting, please post them in the comments below 