Gnosis (GNO) Exchange

GNO is the native staking and governance token of Gnosis Chain, an EVM-compatible proof-of-stake blockchain that operates as an independent Layer-1 network with 5-second slot times and transaction fees denominated in xDAI — a stablecoin bridged from DAI. Validators stake GNO to secure the Gnosis Chain network and earn staking rewards for proposing and attesting blocks; as of early 2026, staking yields were approximately 8.5% APY.
Gnosis Chain runs the same consensus client software as Ethereum and tracks Ethereum's upgrade path closely — the Pectra upgrade was activated on Gnosis Chain in April 2026, pushing network throughput past twice its previous levels and introducing native account abstraction. The network had over 300,000 active validators distributed across 70 countries as of August 2025, making it one of the most geographically decentralised proof-of-stake networks in existence.
GNO is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum mainnet and simultaneously a native asset used for validator staking on Gnosis Chain itself. When exchanging GNO via Swapzone, confirm which network version the partner exchange expects on the deposit side — sending Ethereum mainnet GNO to a Gnosis Chain deposit address (or vice versa) requires bridging and may result in delays.

GNO Tokenomics

Gnosis uses a hard-capped supply model with one of the lowest absolute supply ceilings of any major blockchain's native token.
Hard cap — 3,000,000 GNO total; no additional tokens can be minted beyond this ceiling.
Circulating supply — approximately 2,999,935 GNO as of mid-2026; almost the entire supply is already in circulation, with a deflationary trajectory following GnosisDAO's approval of GIP-116 in January 2025, which burned approximately 3,000,000 vesting-contract tokens and reduced the effective circulating float.
Network — ERC-20 on Ethereum mainnet; also used as the native staking asset on Gnosis Chain, where 1 GNO is required per validator node (compared to 32 ETH per Ethereum validator).
Validator requirement — 1 GNO per validator activates a node on Gnosis Chain. Validators may continue operating if stake drops above 0.5 GNO minimum; below that threshold they are ejected from the validator pool.
Emission — no new GNO is minted at the protocol level; staking rewards are distributed from within the fixed total supply.
Liquid staking — platforms including StakeWise offer liquid staking for GNO, issuing derivatives (rGNO, sGNO) that allow holders to participate in DeFi while their GNO is staked.
Distribution — GNO was originally distributed via the GnosisDAO treasury and team allocation at project launch in 2017.

What Determines GNO's Value

Gnosis Chain validator demand creates direct consumption of GNO: each validator requires exactly 1 GNO to activate. As of August 2025, the network had over 300,000 active validators — with each locking 1 GNO, a significant portion of the 3 million hard-capped supply is committed to network security rather than available for trading. Any increase in the validator set directly tightens the effective float.
The secondary demand layer comes from GnosisDAO governance: GNO holders vote on protocol upgrades, fee parameters, and treasury allocation across the Gnosis ecosystem. Products that originated within Gnosis — including CoW Protocol (an MEV-resistant trading aggregator that has processed over $130 billion in cumulative volume) and Gnosis Safe (a multi-signature smart contract wallet securing over $58 billion in assets) — remain connected to GnosisDAO, tying governance participation to real economic activity across the ecosystem.
With a hard cap of 3,000,000 GNO, no minting mechanism, and a deflationary trajectory from GIP-116, any sustained growth in validator count or governance participation reduces the tradeable float further. Gnosis Chain's adoption for transaction settlement — including stablecoin transfers, DeFi, and real-world asset applications — supports ongoing validator economics and therefore continued GNO demand.