Shadow Labs Connects Private DAO Voting With Discord and XRP Communities

Shadow Labs presented a privacy-focused DAO application during an official Midnight Fireside Dev Hang on August 26. The demonstration covered DAO creation, wallet access, proposal management and voting directly through a Discord server.

The application uses Midnight’s zero-knowledge infrastructure to separate voter identity from individual voting choices. The project was developed through Midnight Build Club, while a related public repository maintained by developer Anthony Montanez documents a privacy-preserving DAO contract on Midnight Preprod.

Shadow Labs Combines Private DAOs With Wallet Access

Users can create a DAO through the Shadow Labs interface, add a description and connect its Discord, website and GitHub channels. A DAO can be listed publicly or configured as a private, invitation-only community.

The application includes several models for managing proposals and voting power. Proposal creation can be restricted to administrators or opened to all members, while votes can carry equal weight or be calculated according to token holdings.

Communities can also restrict membership through token or NFT ownership. This allows existing projects to use their digital assets as access credentials for DAO participation and governance.

The demonstration used Lace to connect with the application. Shadow Labs also listed support for Xaman, a wallet widely used in the XRP ecosystem, although the Xaman connection was not shown during the session. Lace already supports Midnight DApp connectivity, providing Cardano and Midnight users with an established wallet route into applications built on the network.

Discord Bot Moves Governance Into Community Channels

Shadow Labs connects a DAO with a Discord server through a setup command generated inside the application. Once connected, community members can view active proposals and vote without opening a separate governance portal.

During the demonstration, an administrator created a proposal in the web application before retrieving it through Discord. A participant then used a slash command, entered the proposal identifier and selected a voting option.

According to the team, the Discord bot sends the required information to a proof server that handles the zero-knowledge component of the transaction. The project also uses DUST generation to sponsor transaction costs for users.

A related public repository maintained by Montanez documents a DAO voting contract written in Compact. The implementation uses a commit-and-reveal process, Merkle Tree commitments and circuit-derived nullifiers designed to prevent double voting.

During the initial commit phase, a participant’s choice remains concealed inside a cryptographic commitment. Results become visible after the reveal phase, while the voter’s identity remains unlinked from the individual vote. The repository targets Midnight Preprod and uses test NIGHT to generate the DUST resource required for transactions.

XRP Access Does Not Yet Mean XRPL Execution

Members of the Shadow Labs team come from the XRP community and position the application as a governance tool for communities without their own privacy infrastructure. Xaman support is intended to provide those users with a familiar wallet entry point, while the privacy functions operate through Midnight.

The demonstration did not establish that proposals, votes or final results are recorded on the XRP Ledger. It also did not show governance data moving between Midnight and XRPL. The current technical evidence covers the Midnight DAO contract, proof-server architecture and Discord-based user flow.

Shadow Labs is also developing crowdfunding functions for DAO treasuries, although its business model has not been finalized. A mainnet contract, security audit and production usage data have not been published.

The current Build Club output consists of a DAO interface, a Discord proposal and voting process, and a public Preprod contract for private governance. At this stage, Shadow Labs gives XRP-origin communities access to a Midnight-based private governance interface, while the verified voting contract remains on Midnight Preprod.