SuperUMAns #69 - oSnap, $UMA Voting And The Optimistic Oracle

Looking back to 2023 and the tools that UMA created makes the "bear market is for building" a 100% correct statement. UMA 2.0 and the new voting system went live, oSnap was created and top DAOs were helped to implement a more efficient governance, and many upgrades to the Cryptoverse status quo.

UMA 2.0 went live in March, as a mechanics where the holders will earn regardless of the number of votes, with the possibility to earn more while helping to settle disputes. The smart contracts and DeFi applications can now solve grey area disputes and validated information about the world. The OOv3 introduced a new logic pattern for UMA’s optimistic oracle, that of an “assertion pattern". The new system replaced the “question-and-answer" dispute mechanics.

The staking rewards will be streamed continuously and will begin immediately after staking the UMA tokens. The average APY stayed close to 24%, as the voters experienced reward reallocation depending on whether they vote consistently and accurately as part of UMA's optimistic oracle DVM.

Some disputes were harder than others, with one word making the difference between the outcomes. As example, did Egypt opened the borders for Palestinians refugees by 30th of November? This dispute was between Yes, No and Too Early... and each side had strong arguments. I done my research and I voted Yes after world-wide media clearly stated that "some" refugees were allowed in the country.

The blockchain evolution continued with Snap - the gasless snapshot voting with on-chain execution by UMA. The oSnap name is short for Optimistic Snapshot Execution. The tool is efficiently using the optimistic oracle to verify any arbitrary data from governance snapshots.

The synergy between Snapshot, Safe and UMA brings an innovative solution for executing on-chain governance decisions. After the snapshot is completed, anyone can submit the transactions to implement the proposal. If there is no dispute about the proposal’s accuracy during the dispute window, the transactions will go through.

The Optimistic Governance is the governance that uses UMA's Optimistic Oracle to verify outcomes optimistically, and the proposals proceed unless someone raises a dispute. The OO (Optimistic Oracle) can be used to verify any kind of data, including whether a proposal passed a Snapshot voting round. This type of governance gives power to tokenholders to complete snapshots without any reliance on team multi-sigs to execute code. oSnap will make on-chain transactions based on off-chain voting decisions.

Many DAOs are constantly using Snapshot voting to coordinate and reach governance decisions, but the tool doesn’t offer proposal execution. Once the consensus is reached, the DAOs rely on team multi-sig wallets to implement the results. DAOs depend on the signatories on a multi-sig to execute the vote’s outcome, and the process can be hard to coordinated due to time zones, internet issues or other problems.

oSnap brings evolution and the DAOs need to scale ... the ability to coordinate trustlessly without facing security or waiting time obstacles.UMA is working hard to create the tools that DAOs can use to move quickly without sacrificing decentralization or voter UX. oSnap brings this world one step closer. Vote off-chain and execute on-chain!

How oSnap delivers trustless execution? oSnap combines Snapshot’s popular off-chain voting mechanism with Safe’s industry-leading multi-sig wallet infrastructure. Users are incentivized to submit the correct transactions for execution, and they also have an incentive to dispute if there is an error.

In the case of a dispute, no transaction is executed and it will need to be re-submitted. UMA tokenholders will review who was correct in the dispute, and reward that person from the other party’s bond. Optimistic governance could transform the way DAOs operate in the future.

The war between Hamas and Israel raised many disputes, many of them due to the wording used in the prediction. Some markets are poorly created and will leave place for interpretation. Also it is very important to chose wisely your sources, as some may not be as reliable as others.

I managed to maintain my accuracy quite high, and the return close to 25% APY. This was boosted by the participation bonus, for all the disputes where I voted for the correct outcome. Sometimes you will vote and the majority will vote for another truth... this is inevitable.

My $UMA earnings based on participation was slashed by 2.1 tokens after the dispute #88, but long term voting will always keep it positive. The gas fees are paid back once a month, encouraging the UMA holders into voting and settling disputes.