GnosisDAO votes to retire Gnosis Chain, unlock 27% of GNO supply

GnosisDAO has approved a plan to retire Gnosis Chain's standalone Layer 1, unlocking approximately 350000 GNO, which is about 27% of the token's circulating supply. Under GIP-153, Gnosis Chain will transition to a zero-knowledge-proven Ethereum Economic Zone rollup, settling directly to Ethereum every block. This change will eliminate the independent validator set and rely on Ethereum validators for security. The approval is a direction-level mandate, with the first EEZ version expected around December 2026 or January 2027, pending infrastructure readiness. GNO rose 10% to about 136 around the governance decision, reflecting investor interest in Gnosis' integration with Ethereum. The transition will require Gnosis to rethink GNO's economics, as staking will end. Currently, validator rewards are paid from the treasury, with GIP-153 estimating a 2.3% annual dilution for non-stakers. After the validator set is retired, Gnosis plans to link GNO to revenue generated by the rollup, with options like fee sharing or GNO buybacks under consideration. The goal is to provide applications direct access to Ethereum's liquidity without bridging assets. Several DeFi projects have committed to building products in this new environment. However, the transition may lead to a less decentralized execution layer, as Gnosis Ltd. is expected to operate the sequencer for transaction ordering and block production.