PrimeDAO: Private, Real-Time Governance on Solana

PrimeDAO is a voting app for communities that need two things at the same time:

• fast, transparent vote totals
• private individual choices

Made by @Jrken_ny.

Most governance tools force a tradeoff: either everyone sees wallets and voting behavior, or results are delayed. PrimeDAO uses Arcium to remove that tradeoff.

What We Built

PrimeDAO runs on Solana Devnet and integrates an Anchor program with Arcium-backed encrypted voting.

Core user flow:

1. Admin initializes the platform once.
2. Anyone can create a proposal with multiple options and a voting window.
3. Voters submit encrypted votes.
4. Tallies update in near real-time as votes arrive.
5. Individual voter preference remains private.

Current program integration in the frontend:

• initialize()
• create_proposal(title, description, options, voting_period)
• cast_vote(computation_offset, option_index, voter_part1_enc, voter_part2_enc, voter_part3_enc, voter_part4_enc, proposal_id_enc, option_index_enc, pubkey, nonce)
• close_proposal()

Why Arcium Matters Here

Arcium is the privacy layer that makes this governance UX practical.

In PrimeDAO, Arcium is used to:

• fetch the MXE encryption public key
• derive a shared secret client-side
• encrypt voter-linked data before the transaction is sent
• execute privacy-preserving compute flow without exposing voter intent in plaintext

Privacy Benefits

• Voter preference privacy: no clear-text vote option tied to the wallet in transaction data.
• Reduced coercion risk: social pressure and retaliation become harder when ballot intent is hidden.
• Auditability with confidentiality: proposals and aggregate counts stay visible while individual intent stays private.

UX Principles

The app is designed so privacy does not feel like extra friction:

• familiar wallet-connect + vote flow
• live totals in a simple format like Yes: 14v, No: 11v
• time remaining and total participation surfaced clearly
• no need for users to manage encryption manually

Technical Implementation

Frontend stack:

• React + TypeScript + Vite
• @coral-xyz/anchor
• @solana/web3.js
• @solana/wallet-adapter-react
• @arcium-hq/client

Key technical choices:

• IDL-driven Anchor client (public/idl/primedao.json)
• deterministic PDA derivation for proposals, vote records, and Arcium-related accounts
• robust MXE key lookup with retries and fallback account resolution
• live poll refresh loop for near real-time tally UI

Project Structure

• src/lib/voting-client.ts: on-chain client + Arcium encryption flow
• src/hooks/usePolls.ts: proposal loading/refresh + create flow
• src/hooks/useArciumVoting.ts: vote submission path
• src/pages/Dao.tsx: main DAO UX
• public/idl/primedao.json: PrimeDAO program IDL

Backend Repository

The on-chain/backend code for PrimeDAO is maintained in:

• https://github.com/Jr-kenny/primedaobackend

Configuration

Create .env in project root:

VITE_PROGRAM_ID=HUeej6v9dMg3JsJtRrTXPS7JKLABmWEz6e1V249cLryL
VITE_NETWORK=https://api.devnet.solana.com
VITE_CLUSTER_OFFSET=456

VITE_MXE_ACCOUNT=9ZaQZqwY9jko2F13ZGQE6rNP3bAiGFr4t8LmYAKTGRey
VITE_MEMPOOL_ACCOUNT=Ex7BD8o8PK1y2eXDd38Jgujj93uHygrZeWXDeGAHmHtN
VITE_EXECUTING_POOL=4mcrgNZzJwwKrE3wXMHfepT8htSBmGqBzDYPJijWooog
VITE_CLUSTER_ACCOUNT=DzaQCyfybroycrNqE5Gk7LhSbWD2qfCics6qptBFbr95

VITE_ARCIUM_PROGRAM_ID=ARC1VVo9KxbizP36EGgsSd6B3VpLwE1eSgaGNZyhj1MN
VITE_COMP_DEF_ACCOUNT=2JqSXGWNVG8cip48uWUr77RXgTZ35L9tiqUb7vF89E6E

Optional override (normally derived at runtime):

• VITE_COMPUTATION_ACCOUNT

Local Development

pnpm install
pnpm dev

Open the DAO app route and connect a Devnet wallet.

Common Failure Modes (and What They Mean)

• Arcium MXE setup issue ... does not exist

  • The configured MXE account does not exist on the selected network.

• Arcium MXE is not ready for encrypted voting yet

  • MXE utility keys (x25519) are not initialized yet, or deployment state is incomplete.

• Account does not exist or has no data <pubkey>

  • A required account (often derived MXE/canonical account) has not been created for this deployment.

Judging Criteria Alignment

Innovation

PrimeDAO combines live governance visibility with encrypted voter intent, avoiding the usual privacy/transparency tradeoff.

Technical Implementation

The app integrates Solana + Anchor + Arcium end-to-end, including encrypted vote submission, PDA-driven account resolution, and operational error handling for deployment state.

User Experience

The voting flow stays simple while strong privacy runs under the hood. Live tallies and countdowns keep decisions understandable in real time.

Impact

Private-by-default governance helps DAOs, teams, and communities make sensitive decisions without discouraging participation.

Clarity

The product is explicit about what is public (proposal metadata, aggregate totals) and what stays private (individual vote intent and voter-option linkage).