CoW DAO has integrated oSnap

Tldr; CoW DAO, the DAO responsible for stewarding CoW Protocol and CoW Swap, now uses oSnap for Optimistic Snapshot Execution. CoW is the latest major Web3 DAO to commit to decentralization through oSnap, bringing the solution’s total value secured to $86 million.

Key takeaways:

• CoW DAO has deployed oSnap in a move to double down on decentralized governance.
• With oSnap, CoW DAO can operate in a trustless, efficient manner while saving on costs.
• After a series of major oSnap integrations throughout the year, CoW DAO’s launch brings oSnap’s total value secured to $86 million.

Following a successful governance vote with 97% of participants voting in favor, CoW DAO has deployed oSnap to execute onchain voting decisions optimistically based on Snapshot voting outcomes. With the launch, CoW has joined a growing list of DAOs to use Optimistic Snapshot Execution for governance.

CoW DAO stewards CoW Protocol, which powers the decentralized trading venue CoW Swap. CoW DAO members oversee CoW Protocol’s products, and they use a governance token called $COW to determine the future of those products. Of all CoW Protocol’s offerings, the project is best known for its MEV protecting decentralized exchange, CoW Swap, but it also has the more recent all-purpose MEV protection RPC, MEV Blocker.

Since launching in early 2021, CoW Swap has become recognized as one of DeFi’s most boundary-pushing projects. CoW DAO’s oSnap deployment will ensure the DAO can develop and operate CoW Protocol in a decentralized and efficient manner. It will empower the CoW community to oversee the project’s trajectory, on top of its treasury and make decisions with optimistic execution.

The update shows that CoW DAO is embracing the future of DAO governance, and it points to a trend we’ve watched play out throughout this year: when Web3’s top DAOs want to decentralize, they adopt oSnap.

How oSnap works

oSnap launched in February 2023 and has already made a mark on the DAO ecosystem. The solution uses Snapshot’s gasless voting mechanism with Safe wallets to help DAOs execute governance proposals onchain without falling back to a trusted central party.

oSnap uses UMA’s optimistic oracle to verify transaction data, enabling governance decisions to pass “optimistically” based on voting outcomes. UMA’s OO validates approved transactions when a vote passes and deletes rejected proposals. In dispute cases, $UMA tokenholders vote onchain to resolve the proposal and disputer’s bond, and the oracle’s game theoretical mechanism incentivizes them to vote honestly.

UMA has processed more than 10,000 data assertions since launching in 2020 and has never been corrupted. Early use cases for the optimistic oracle included prediction market and decentralized insurance, but since oSnap’s launch, UMA has secured millions of dollars in transactions for key Web3 DAOs.

Why DAOs are using oSnap

oSnap is useful to DAOs because it helps them make governance decisions in a more trustless and efficient way. oSnap DAOs don’t need to rely on multisig co-signers to execute transactions, and anyone can execute a proposal once a governance vote passes. As oSnap uses offchain voting and improves DAO efficiency, it also makes them more cost-effective, as gas costs are lower and aligned decisions on treasury management happen faster.

To date, DAOs have used oSnap for a variety of different purposes, including covering operational costs, reimbursing treasury funds, and issuing loans. CoW DAO is using oSnap to secure $30 million worth of treasury funds, and its community of tokenholders is now responsible for managing the assets based on governance voting.

“Adding oSnap allows CoW DAO to lower the burden on executing via the multisig. It also incentivizes $COW token holders to take action in the case of misaligned behaviors and makes the DAO more resilient, and therefore more decentralized.” — cow.eth

CoW DAO’s oSnap deployment brings the solution’s total value secured to roughly $86 million at current market prices.

How CoW DAO became a Web3 mainstay

CoW DAO is the group responsible for stewarding CoW Protocol. The project’s core offering is CoW Swap, a permissionless DEX that focuses on offering DeFi users the best prices for their trades.

CoW stands for “Coincidence of Wants” — a reference to the project’s money-saving peer-to-peer trading design.

CoW Protocol is known for pioneering innovations in MEV protection and intents, features that have gone on to inspire cutting-edge DeFi projects like UniswapX.

For DeFi power users, CoW Protocol is an ecosystem staple. As CoW DAO drives the project’s success, the oSnap integration marks a positive development for DeFi and the DAO ecosystem at once.

CoW DAO has become oSnap’s biggest partner with $30 million in value secured, but it’s only the latest project to onboard into the world of Optimistic Snapshot Execution. CoW DAO joins a host of other leading projects including ShapeShift and Across, highlighting the solution’s growing prominence in the DAO ecosystem.

An optimistic future

oSnap launched earlier this year in hopes of accelerating the DAO ecosystem. While the project has found early success attracting the likes of CoW DAO, oSnap’s journey is just getting started.

We envision a future where DAOs serving all kinds of functions use optimistic execution to operate trustlessly and efficiently. oSnap’s growth shows how oracle systems like UMA can usher in this future.

UMA has always stayed true to crypto’s decentralized ethos, and oSnap forms part of our mission to use trustless coordination to improve the world. oSnap is already making the DAO ecosystem more decentralized, and we hope it will support many more projects over the years to come. Our team frequently receives questions on oSnap from projects in the DAO ecosystem, and we look forward to welcoming more partners alongside CoW DAO very soon.

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, DM us on Twitter, join the UMA Discord server, or reach out at integrations@uma.xyz.