Aragon ZK Research and Aztec have recently collaborated on a groundbreaking research project focused on private voting for Nouns DAO. Over the course of the last few months, the two teams have worked tirelessly to develop a proof-of-concept and comprehensive reports to support their findings. Additionally, they have created two time-locked cryptography protocols to enhance their work.
The Nouns DAO Private Voting Research Sprint, funded by Nouns DAO, aimed to explore solutions for private voting within their organization. One of the teams involved in this research sprint was composed of Aragon ZK Research and Aztec. With a three-month timeline to complete their research, the teams set out to answer a crucial question: How feasible is it to build a user-friendly, trustless, fair, weighted, and ballot-secret voting system on Ethereum?
The results of their research have been promising, with significant progress made in both research and development. The teams have even developed a demo to showcase their work. The only parameter not addressed in this research was weighted voting, as the proof of concept currently allows for one vote per NFT owned.
The importance of onchain private voting cannot be understated, as it provides a level of privacy and security that is crucial in decentralized organizations. By eliminating the need for a middleman and ensuring that votes are fully encrypted, onchain private voting offers a secure and transparent solution for DAOs.
The proof of concept developed by Aragon ZK Research and Aztec allows for trustless private voting on Ethereum, marking a significant milestone for the industry. While the POC is not yet market-ready or audited, it demonstrates the potential for private voting in decentralized organizations.
Moving forward, Aragon ZK Research plans to apply their learnings to DAOs on Aragon OSx, while Aztec will contribute to Noir to enhance private voting capabilities. The future looks bright for private voting in DAOs, with exciting developments on the horizon.
For more information on their research and projects, check out the provided links to explore their work in-depth.
