Gnosis Chain (GNO): how it works, supply and reviews

In short

Status: Live: Gnosis Chain (formerly xDai Chain) is an operating EVM network; docs, forum and the gnosis.io chain page are maintained on 31 October 2026.
Type: EVM-based network, one of Ethereum's first sidechains
Fee token: Fees are paid in xDai, a stablecoin
Risks and caveats: Validators acting together froze and moved an attacker's funds in 2025; Gnosis says validators can still act in concert and aims to make censorship impossible.
Checked: 31 October 2026

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Key facts

Ticker: GNO
Status: Live: Gnosis Chain (formerly xDai Chain) is an operating EVM network; docs, forum and the gnosis.io chain page are maintained on 31 October 2026.
Official site: gnosis.io/chain

Key facts checked on 31 October 2026 against official sources.

What is Gnosis Chain

Gnosis Chain is a community-owned, EVM-compatible network secured by proof-of-stake validators who stake GNO. Transaction fees are paid in xDai, a stablecoin minted when DAI is bridged from Ethereum. It was called xDai Chain until GIP-16 (2021) and merged with the Gnosis Beacon Chain in December 2022.

Network and consensus

Network and consensus — Gnosis Chain
Parameter	Details
Type	EVM-based network, one of Ethereum's first sidechains
Consensus	Proof of stake on the Gnosis Beacon Chain since the Merge of 8 December 2022 (previously proof of authority)
Block time	Five-second blocks
Chain ID	100
Smart contracts	EVM-compatible; building dApps is similar to other EVM chains

Supply and issuance

Supply and issuance — Gnosis Chain
Parameter	Details
Fee token	Fees are paid in xDai, a stablecoin
Issuance	xDai is minted by bridge validators when DAI is sent to the xDai bridge
Staking token	GNO
Fee distribution	Fees go only to the validator that sealed the block

What GNO is used for

xDai: transaction fees (gas)
GNO: validator staking on the Gnosis Beacon Chain
GNO: governance in GnosisDAO

Who develops and governs Gnosis Chain

Governance: DAO governance open to anyone
Validators: Over 200,000 validators (docs about page)
Formerly: xDai Chain; renamed Gnosis Chain under GIP-16, with the STAKE and GNO tokens merged

History

History — Gnosis Chain
Date	Event
11 January 2019	The xDai network activates the Constantinople hard fork at block 1,604,400 (earliest dated hard fork in the docs).
8 November 2021	GIP-16 proposes merging the xDai and Gnosis communities and renaming the chain Gnosis Chain.
8 December 2022	The Merge: the Gnosis execution layer (formerly xDai) merges with the Gnosis Beacon Chain, moving to proof of stake.
22 December 2025	A validator-adopted hard fork transfers frozen funds from the Balancer exploit to a DAO-controlled Safe.

Security and audits

Bug bounty with Immunefi: up to USD 2,000,000 for critical smart contract findings.
The security-audit page lists audits such as the Stake Beacon Chain audit by ChainSecurity (1 October 2021) and bridge audits by ChainSecurity and Quantstamp.
In November 2025 bridge governors temporarily halted bridge activity and validators adopted a soft fork to freeze funds taken in the Balancer exploit.

Security incidents

Security incidents — Gnosis Chain
Date	What happened	Source
3 November 2025	Exploit: An attacker exploited a vulnerability in Balancer V2 Composable Stable Pools (Balancer-managed contracts), draining about $120–128 million across chains, including about $9.4 million on Gnosis Chain. Bridge governors temporarily halted bridge activity and over 50% of validators adopted a soft fork that froze the attacker's balances. Funds returned: A hard fork on 22 December 2025 moved the recoverable funds to a DAO-controlled Safe; Gnosis says all exploiter-controlled funds on Gnosis Chain that could be recovered were secured and opened a claim process for affected users.	forum.gnosis.io

Official GNO contracts

Official GNO contracts
Network	Contract address
Ethereum	0x6810e776880c02933d47db1b9fc05908e5386b96
Gnosis Chain	0x9C58BAcC331c9aa871AFD802DB6379a98e80CEdb

GNO token contracts from the Gnosis docs; xDai is the native fee currency and has no token contract on Gnosis Chain.

Risks and caveats

Validators acting together froze and moved an attacker's funds in 2025; Gnosis says validators can still act in concert and aims to make censorship impossible.
xDai is minted by bridge validators against DAI locked on Ethereum, so it depends on the xDai bridge.
Nodes that did not upgrade for the December 2025 hard fork were to be penalized.

Official links

Website: www.gnosis.io/chain
Docs: docs.gnosischain.com
Block explorer: gnosisscan.io
Governance forum: forum.gnosis.io
Source code: github.com/gnosischain

Questions and answers

What is Gnosis Chain?

A community-owned, EVM-compatible proof-of-stake network where fees are paid in the xDai stablecoin and validators stake GNO.

Is xDai the same as Gnosis Chain?

Yes. The xDai chain was renamed Gnosis Chain under GIP-16 (2021); xDai remains the name of its fee token.

When did Gnosis Chain move to proof of stake?

The Merge with the Gnosis Beacon Chain completed on 8 December 2022, replacing proof of authority.

Was Gnosis Chain hacked?

In November 2025 the Balancer V2 exploit drained about $9.4 million from Balancer contracts on Gnosis Chain; validators froze the funds and a 22 December 2025 hard fork moved them to a DAO-controlled Safe.

Sources

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Page updated: 2026-11-01