Gnosis (GNO) is a token deployed on Ethereum (mainnet), with bridged instances on Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum One, and Energi.
Founded in 2015 and incubated within ConsenSys, Gnosis has evolved into an ecosystem of infrastructure products. GNO functions as the governance and staking token for GnosisDAO and secures the Gnosis Chain network. Associated projects include Safe (smart-account infrastructure), CoW Protocol (a batch-auction DEX aggregator), and Gnosis Pay (a crypto-linked debit card). As of 2026-08-31, GNO trades around $116-118 with a market capitalization near $311-312 million.
Gnosis's differentiation lies in the breadth of infrastructure its ecosystem controls rather than a single product.
Safe, the smart-account framework originating from Gnosis, is reported to secure over $58 billion in assets, while CoW Protocol, its batch-auction DEX aggregator, is reported to have protected more than $130 billion in trades. GNO captures this ecosystem value through GnosisDAO's treasury and governance rights over these components and through securing Gnosis Chain. GnosisDAO has approved GIP-153, transitioning Gnosis Chain into a zero-knowledge-proven rollup settling to Ethereum, tightening its alignment with Ethereum's security.
GNO is both a governance and a staking/utility token within the Gnosis ecosystem.
Holders vote on Gnosis Improvement Proposals (GIPs), binding on-chain decisions covering treasury allocation and ecosystem direction within GnosisDAO. GNO also functions as the staking token securing Gnosis Chain's validator set. Following GnosisDAO's approval of GIP-153, Gnosis Chain is transitioning from a standalone Layer-1 to a zero-knowledge-proven rollup settling to Ethereum, which will eventually unlock currently staked GNO.
GNO launched via a Dutch auction (descending-price) token sale on April 24, 2017, one of the first of its kind in crypto, raising $12.5 million in approximately 10-12 minutes.
Roughly $7 million came in within the first 30 seconds, and the auction implied a total project valuation of approximately $300 million. Of the 10,000,000 GNO minted at the token generation event, only about 1,000,000 (roughly 5%) were sold publicly; the remainder was retained by Gnosis Ltd. for gradual release. The token contract was deployed on Ethereum on 2017-04-18, shortly before the public sale.
GNO is deployed on Ethereum (mainnet), with bridged implementations on Gnosis Chain, Arbitrum One, and Energi.
GNO also secures Gnosis Chain, an EVM-compatible sidechain currently running its own independent validator set, reported at over 145,000 validators.
Gnosis was founded in 2015 by Martin Köppelmann (CEO) and Stefan George (CTO), incubated within ConsenSys, an Ethereum venture studio.
Dr. Friederike Ernst is also cited as part of the founding leadership team, serving as COO. In April 2017, Gnosis spun out from ConsenSys to become an independent company based in Gibraltar.
GNO was originally issued by Gnosis Ltd., a company based in Gibraltar formed in 2017; governance and treasury control have since transferred to GnosisDAO.
GnosisDAO, established in November 2020, is described as a prediction market-driven collective governing the ecosystem. The broader Gnosis ecosystem includes affiliated entities that have spun out into their own organizations, including Safe (via SafeDAO), CoW Protocol (via its own DAO and COW token), Gnosis Chain, and Gnosis Pay.
GNO holders govern GnosisDAO through binding on-chain votes on Gnosis Improvement Proposals (GIPs) covering treasury allocation and ecosystem direction.
The most recent major action, GIP-153, approved transitioning Gnosis Chain to a rollup model; it passed with 123,158 GNO in favor versus 115 against, 151 abstaining, across 54 voters, exceeding the 75,000 GNO quorum. GNO also functions as the staking token securing Gnosis Chain's validator set pending this transition.
GnosisDAO approved GIP-153 in 2026, committing Gnosis Chain to retire its Layer-1 validator set for a zero-knowledge-proven rollup settling to Ethereum every block.
The first rollup version is targeted for launch around December 2026 or January 2027. The transition will eventually unlock roughly 350,000 staked GNO and introduce ongoing GNO issuance, funding network security while diluting non-stakers by an estimated 2.3% annually.
Gnosis Safe v1.3.0 was audited by G0 Group auditor Adam Kolář in May 2021, with no issues found.
Gnosis Chain's documentation separately maintains audit records for its bridge infrastructure. On-chain liquidity for GNO is thin relative to its market capitalization, flagged as a high liquidity risk among midcap peers, with most trading activity occurring on centralized exchanges rather than on-chain. Holder concentration data shows the top 10 addresses controlling a large majority of on-chain supply, though this likely includes protocol treasury and staking contracts rather than solely individual holders.
