Last updated 8 months ago
Cardano dApp governance is immature: voting is costly, UX weak, tools are proprietary and unfamiliar, no shared open-source options, and many systems lack sybil resistance and risk plutocracy.
We will build a proof-of-concept Cardano–Snapshot integration, paving the way for full, low-cost, open off-chain (and later, on-chain) governance integration in future work.
Please provide your proposal title
Cardano Off-Chain Governance via Snapshot
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
200000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
6
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Cardano dApp governance is immature: voting is costly, UX weak, tools are proprietary and unfamiliar, no shared open-source options, and many systems lack sybil resistance and risk plutocracy.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
At present, the goal of the project is to fork Snapshot and prove the feasibility of supporting Cardano rather than getting Cardano support shipped to a production environment, therefore we do not depend on the Snapshot team for this proposal, however, this project is part of a larger plan to get Cardano DAOs supported by mainstream Web3 tooling.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
MIT license
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
DAO
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).
Our proposal is innovative because it introduces something the Cardano ecosystem has never had: a pathway to integrate with Snapshot, the most widely used off-chain governance platform in Web3. While Cardano governance tooling is fragmented, costly, and often proprietary, Snapshot offers a mature, feeless, open-source, and widely familiar environment used by thousands of DAOs across many networks. No existing Cardano tool has attempted to bridge into this shared governance standard.
Unlike current Cardano solutions - which are isolated and often require reinventing basic governance components - this approach leverages a proven, battle-tested system and aligns Cardano with established cross-chain governance workflows. This reduces friction for users, eliminates voting fees, improves accessibility, and creates a unified experience that newcomers already understand.
A key innovation is Snapshot’s modular voting strategy system, which enables Cardano governance logic to plug directly into customizable, sybil-resistant, and non-plutocratic models. Current Cardano DAO tools typically rely on simple wallet balances or on-chain voting, which can be expensive or unfair. Our approach opens the door to more advanced models (e.g., quadratic voting, identity-based voting, delegated voting) that have never been available to Cardano DAOs before.
The proposal is intentionally scoped as a proof-of-concept, but the innovation extends beyond the POC itself. By demonstrating technical feasibility - connecting Cardano to Snapshot and enabling off-chain voting - we create the foundation for a full, production-ready Cardano–Snapshot integration in future work. This introduces a shared, open-source governance standard that any Cardano DAO can adopt without building custom proprietary tools.
In short, this project is innovative because it brings Cardano governance into a global, cross-chain ecosystem, solves long-standing issues of cost and UX, and establishes a scalable path toward mature, interoperable, and user-friendly DAO governance across the entire Cardano community.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
The MVP will demonstrate a minimal viable integration of Cardano with Snapshot, focusing on feasibility rather than production readiness. We will enable a Cardano Native Token to be recognized and used as voting power in Snapshot on Mainnet.
Key features of the prototype include:
The goal of this MVP is to prove that Cardano governance can interact with Snapshot, providing a foundation for a full integration in the future. This prototype will allow stakeholders to experience off-chain voting with a Cardano token and validate the technical approach.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
Success for this proof-of-concept will be measured by tangible, demonstrable outcomes rather than production readiness. Realistic success metrics include:
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
Cardano governance is currently fragmented, costly, and difficult for users. Voting on-chain incurs fees, UX is often poor, existing tools are proprietary, and many systems are vulnerable to sybil attacks or plutocracy. These limitations hinder DAO participation and adoption of modern governance practices.
Our solution is a proof-of-concept integration of Cardano with Snapshot, the most widely used off-chain governance platform in Web3. By mapping Cardano Native Tokens to Snapshot voting power, this POC demonstrates that off-chain voting is feasible, free, and user-friendly.
How This Addresses the Problem:
High Transaction Costs: Votes are executed off-chain, eliminating fees and lowering barriers to participation.
Poor UX: Users interact through Snapshot’s familiar, polished interface, improving accessibility and engagement.
Proprietary and Closed Tools: The integration is fully open-source, enabling community adoption, auditing, and extension.
Unfamiliarity: Leveraging Snapshot introduces Cardano users to a standard governance platform used across multiple ecosystems.
Sybil and Plutocracy Risks: Snapshot supports customizable voting strategies, allowing Cardano DAOs to adopt sybil-resistant and fairer governance models.
This POC proves that Cardano can integrate with Snapshot, providing a foundation for future full integration. It addresses key limitations of current Cardano governance tools while creating a roadmap for more scalable, accessible, and interoperable governance across the ecosystem.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
This project will have a significant, multi-layered impact on the wider Cardano ecosystem:
By enabling off-chain, gasless voting through Snapshot, the project makes participation accessible to all token holders, including newcomers and smaller stakeholders who are often priced out of on-chain governance.
Integrating Cardano with Snapshot provides a familiar, polished interface already used by millions of Web3 participants, making it easier for Cardano users to engage with DAOs and encouraging broader adoption of governance processes.
The proof-of-concept will be fully open-source, giving developers and DAOs a reusable foundation. This reduces fragmentation in governance tooling and encourages collaborative, community-driven improvements rather than siloed, proprietary solutions.
Snapshot supports flexible voting strategies that can enforce sybil resistance and prevent plutocracy. By introducing Cardano DAOs to these capabilities, the project empowers communities to adopt more equitable, robust governance practices.
This POC serves as a foundation for future, full-scale integration, inspiring further innovation in Cardano governance tooling and fostering alignment with broader Web3 governance standards.
By connecting Cardano to a widely used multi-chain governance platform, the project increases Cardano’s visibility in the broader DAO ecosystem and positions it to participate in cross-chain governance experimentation and collaboration.
Overall, the project strengthens community engagement, accessibility, fairness, and interoperability, creating a governance infrastructure that scales with the growth of the Cardano ecosystem and encourages broad participation in decision-making.
What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
The Artifi Labs (formerly Artifex Labs) team has the technical expertise and proven track record to deliver this project reliably. Our team of five full-stack engineers combines experience in backend development, frontend systems, Web3 integrations, smart contract logic, and high-quality documentation. We have demonstrated our capabilities through Open DJED a project approved in Catalyst Fund14 which reinforced community trust in our delivery.
This project represents a foundational layer for a larger system currently being planned by Artifi Labs. By delivering this platform now, we establish the initial governance infrastructure required for that long-term roadmap while simultaneously providing a solution that can be adopted and deployed by other teams in the ecosystem.
Feasibility will be validated through a functional open-source proof-of-concept implementing the full governance workflow-request for comment (RFC) submission, community discussion, and token-weighted voting-supported by transparent development and publicly available documentation. By taking a Web3-native, open-source approach, the project ensures both technical feasibility and strategic impact, addressing a clear and pressing gap in Cardano’s infrastructure while providing a reusable foundation that any DAO or protocol can adopt without building from scratch.
Milestone Title
Cardano Wallet integration & Message Signing Prototype
Milestone Outputs
The outputs for this milestone are:
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are:
Evidence of Completion
The evidence of completion for this milestone are:
Delivery Month
1
Cost
20000
Progress
10 %
Milestone Title
Space Creation
Milestone Outputs
The outputs for this milestone are:
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are:
Evidence of Completion
The evidence of completion for this milestone are:
Delivery Month
2
Cost
50000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Indexer
Milestone Outputs
The output for this milestone is the extension of Snapshot’s cross-chain indexing system to support Cardano, enabling reliable per-address CNT balance snapshots for off-chain voting and governance purposes.
Acceptance Criteria
The milestone is complete when Snapshot’s cross-chain indexing supports Cardano Mainnet, accurately fetching per-address CNT balances, enabling off-chain voting, and demonstrating correctness for governance purposes.
Evidence of Completion
Since this is purely back-end related, the evidence of completion for this milestone will be limited to links to the GitHub pull requests and source code merged to introduce the features.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
30000
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
Proposal Creation
Milestone Outputs
The outputs for this milestone are:
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are:
Evidence of Completion
The evidence of completion for this milestone are:
Delivery Month
4
Cost
40000
Progress
70 %
Milestone Title
Vote Casting
Milestone Outputs
The outputs for this milestone are:
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are:
Evidence of Completion
The evidence of completion for this milestone are:
Delivery Month
5
Cost
30000
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Project Close-out
Milestone Outputs
The outputs for this milestone are:
Acceptance Criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are:
Evidence of Completion
The evidence of completion for this milestone are:
Delivery Month
6
Cost
30000
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Budget Overview (200,000 ADA / $80,000 USD):
Milestone Allocation
Notes:
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The 200,000 ADA budget represents a strategic investment in tools and infrastructure that directly strengthen Cardano’s governance and developer ecosystem. Each allocation is designed to maximize impact and ensure long-term benefits:
1. Development Team (70%) – 140,000 ADA
By dedicating the majority of funds to skilled developers, the project ensures the POC is delivered efficiently, with high technical quality. The resulting prototype demonstrates Cardano’s ability to integrate with Snapshot, creating a foundation that can be extended to full production tooling. This initial work significantly reduces the cost and risk for future integrations.
2. Project Management & Coordination (10%) – 20,000 ADA
Effective coordination guarantees timely delivery and clear communication with the Cardano community. This ensures the work is actionable, reproducible, and benefits multiple stakeholders across the ecosystem.
3. Infrastructure & Tooling (5%) – 10,000 ADA
Spending on testnet/Mainnet interaction tools, servers, and CI/CD ensures the prototype is robust, reusable, and easy for other developers to extend. Investing in infrastructure now avoids duplicated effort and accelerates future development across Cardano.
4. Contingency / Miscellaneous (15%) – 30,000 ADA
Allocating funds for unforeseen challenges ensures the project can overcome technical obstacles or unforeseen ADA volatility without compromising scope or delivery. This flexibility increases the likelihood of a successful, demonstrable outcome.
Overall Value
The project transforms 200,000 ADA into:
Reusable, open-source governance infrastructure for Cardano DAOs.
Reduced barriers to participation in governance through gasless off-chain voting.
A roadmap for scalable and fair governance tools on Cardano.
A foundation for future dApps and integrations that leverage the POC code and lessons learned.
Every ADA spent directly contributes to ecosystem growth by creating technical assets, improving accessibility, and fostering community collaboration. The budget is an investment in shared infrastructure, developer productivity, and long-term adoption, rather than a one-off prototype with no lasting impact.
I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.
Yes
I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.
Yes
I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.
Yes
I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
The project will be built by Artifi Labs, a team of 5 dedicated developers, all committed to ensuring the continued growth of Cardano through innovative dApp and tooling development efforts, supporting the ecosystem across governance, DeFi, and broader Web3 applications.