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Gnosis Chain is abandoning life as an independent Layer 1 blockchain. The network is converting into a zero-knowledge rollup settled on Ethereum, effectively handing its security responsibilities to Ethereum’s validator set and retiring its own consensus infrastructure in the process.
The decision, formalized through Gnosis Improvement Proposal 153, passed its Snapshot vote with 99.78% support and quorum met.
What’s actually changing
Gnosis Chain currently operates its own Proof-of-Stake consensus layer, a validator set that grew to more than 100,000 nodes after the network’s PoS transition in December 2022. Under the new architecture, all of that infrastructure gets retired. Block production and sequencing shift to Ethereum validators, while Gnosis maintains its own execution environment.
The practical details should feel familiar to anyone who’s used the chain. xDAI remains the gas token. Chain state and addresses carry over. EVM compatibility stays intact.
GIP-153 was proposed on July 22, 2026, with voting running from August 12 through August 19. The phased implementation is expected to begin late in 2026.
The 350,000 GNO unlock
For GNO holders, the most immediate consequence is a significant token unlock. Approximately 350,000 GNO tokens are currently locked in the validator system, representing roughly 27% of the circulating supply. Once the independent validator set is retired, those tokens become available to stakers.
From sidechain to L1 to rollup
Gnosis Chain’s identity has always been a bit fluid. It started life as the xDai Chain, a stablecoin-focused sidechain designed for cheap, fast payments denominated in DAI. Over time it evolved into a community-governed EVM Layer 1 with its own validator set and a broader ambition beyond simple payments.
Now it’s evolving again, this time into what it describes as a ZK rollup within the Ethereum Economic Zone. The EEZ concept represents an emerging framework for chains that want to maintain operational independence while settling on Ethereum and inheriting its security guarantees.
What this means for the rollup landscape
The Gnosis transition represents something different from a new rollup launching from scratch. This is an established chain with existing users, applications, and liquidity deliberately choosing to collapse its security layer into Ethereum’s.
The synchronous composability angle also matters. As a rollup settled on Ethereum, Gnosis applications could potentially interact with Ethereum mainnet contracts more seamlessly than they can today.
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