Introducing private voting on Aragon with MACI

Run encrypted, zk-verified votes with privacy applied exactly where you need it.

Privacy is normal. In the physical world, that’s not up for debate. For centuries, private ballots have been the bedrock of legitimate decision-making in democracies. Without them, voters could be bribed, coerced, or punished. With them, people can vote their conscience, and societies can trust the outcome.

But in the onchain world, privacy in governnace participation has been missing. Every vote, tied to every wallet, is permanently etched into a public ledger. That’s made many high-stakes decisions risky, driven participation down, and warped outcomes toward what’s safe to be seen rather than what’s right to choose.

That ends today.

Aragon and the team behind MACI (Minimum Anti-Collusion Infrastructure) have joined forces to bring private voting at scale to onchain organizations, with development currently underway. The new MACI plugin will be the first time encrypted, verifiable, large-scale private voting is possible fully onchain, and, by integrating with Aragon's modular governance, with the ability to apply it only to the types of proposals that need it most.

Why private voting changes everything

Onchain organizations are maturing fast. Networks, DAOs, and protocols are making decisions that move billions in assets, shape global communities, and respond to shifting legal landscapes. In this environment, the lack of voter privacy isn’t just a gap, it’s a governance liability.

Private voting unlocks powerful applications across different governance processes. In grants and other kinds of capital distribution, it removes backchannel pressure by making vote buying impossible. In elections, it lowers the social cost of honest participation by decoupling their vote from their reputation. For vendor and RFP selection, it reduces politicization and exploitation. And because the plugin parallels our existing token voting module, it extends naturally to broader community governance decisions well beyond funding.

With private voting on Aragon:

Accuracy: every result is backed by a zk proof verified onchain.
Modularity: apply privacy only to sensitive decisions, keeping others open.
Receipt-freeness: voters can’t prove how they voted, deterring bribery and herding.
Censorship-resistance: the proving mechanism cannot forge votes; worst case is a delay in the results if it becomes unavailable.
Compliance readiness: as regulatory regimes evolve, privacy may become a requirement, not an option.
Higher turnout: more people engage when they know their vote is safe.

The result: governance that’s transparent where it should be, and private where it must be.

How it works

The plugin will integrate MACI’s proven cryptographic architecture directly into the Aragon stack, enabling projects to setup with a secure private voting flow:

Proposals link to MACI polls: using Aragon’s IProposal interface.
Snapshot-based voting power: ensures eligibility is based on past token balances or delegation.
One-time voter registration: members generate a MACI key tied to their wallet.
End-to-end encrypted ballots: voters cast Yes/No/Abstain, with the option to change until voting closes.
Coordinator tallying: a service for decrypting ballots and submits a zk-proof of results.
Onchain verification: only results with a valid zk-proof are accepted. If quorum/support pass, the proposal moves to execution via OSx permissions.

Because it’s part of Aragon’s modular stack, the plugin can be combined with treasury management, granular permissions, and other governance flows you’ve built, all from one interface.

Getting started with private voting on Aragon

The MACI plugin is ready to demo now, but it’s not yet a one-click feature in the Aragon app. We’ll be rolling it out through bespoke builds before general availability — reach out to the team today to explore setting up private voting for your project or protocol.

A milestone for privacy, a new era for onchain voting

Privacy in governance isn’t a “nice to have,” it’s foundational. Without it, people self-censor, opt out, or succumb to external pressure. With it, they can vote their conscience, and projects can see increased, legitimate participation in their ecosystem.

Until now, private voting at this scale simply hasn’t been possible onchain. By integrating Aragon with MACI, we’re making it available to any project that needs secure, verifiable, modular privacy in governance.

It’s a step-change for onchain governance and a leap towards a new, dependable state for the industry: safer for individuals, more legitimate for communities, and more resilient for protocols.

Because in governance, privacy is normal, and now it’s finally possible onchain.