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Gnosis Chain
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Gnosis Chain is a community-owned EVM-based sidechain operated by a proof-of-stake validator set aiming to be the first chain in the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ). Its canonical Ethereum bridge ('Gnosis Bridge') is validated by dedicated bridge validator... multisigs (not the PoS validator set) and supports the yielding bridge for the chain's gas-token xDAI as well as token transfers and messaging. This page looks at both the PoS chain and the canonical bridge to Ethereum from an Ethereum-centric perspective.
Badges
About
Gnosis Chain is a community-owned EVM-based sidechain operated by a proof-of-stake validator set aiming to be the first chain in the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ). Its canonical Ethereum bridge ('Gnosis Bridge') is validated by dedicated bridge validator... multisigs (not the PoS validator set) and supports the yielding bridge for the chain's gas-token xDAI as well as token transfers and messaging. This page looks at both the PoS chain and the canonical bridge to Ethereum from an Ethereum-centric perspective.
Why is the project listed in others?
Gnosis Chain has an external validator set that validates its state transitions. This is an additional trust assumption since Ethereum does not, the external validators do not commit or stake anything on Ethereum.
Consequence: projects without a proper proof system fully rely on single entities to safely update the state. A malicious proposer can finalize an invalid state, which can cause loss of funds.
Consequence: projects without a data availability bridge fully rely on single entities (the sequencer) to honestly rely available data roots on Ethereum. A malicious sequencer can collude with the proposer to finalize an unavailable state, which can cause loss of funds.
Learn more about the recategorisation here.
USDS migration on xDAI bridge
2025 Nov 7th
The xDAI bridge makes USDS the default Ethereum-side backing asset.
Gnosis Chain is a community-owned EVM-based sidechain operated by a proof-of-stake validator set aiming to be the first chain in the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ). Its canonical Ethereum bridge (‘Gnosis Bridge’) is validated by dedicated bridge validator multisigs (not the PoS validator set) and supports the yielding bridge for the chain’s gas-token xDAI as well as token transfers and messaging. This page looks at both the PoS chain and the canonical bridge to Ethereum from an Ethereum-centric perspective.
Gnosis chain in its current form does not derive or benefit from Ethereum’s decentralisation apart from being developed as a close fork to re-use Ethereum tooling and infrastructure. Its censorship resistance relies on an open validator set with over 100 thousand diverse validators, although the clustering and stake distribution among entities is intransparent. Users who are censored selectively on an otherwise live network benefit from the fast 5s block time and non-committee-gated, stake-weighted proposer rotation, resulting in an inclusion probability of 99% in less than a minute even if up to 50% of the Gnosis stake is censoring them. There are also a few thousand validators who run custom ‘shutter network’ nodes that support threshold-encrypted transactions. For a case of active blanket censorship (>50% stake) by all current validators, users have no way apart from a hardfork to get their transactions included or save the chain. In the operator walkaway scenario, new sequencers could stake and join the set permissionlessly.
Funds can be stolen if
- a malicious or vulnerable wrapped token implementation is configured for newly bridged assets,
- a contract receives a malicious code upgrade. There is no delay on code upgrades (CRITICAL),
- bridge validators sign fraudulent messages that release more assets on Ethereum than were burned or locked on Gnosis,
- the Gnosis validator set finalizes an invalid chain state and the bridge validators sign messages derived from it.
Users can permissionlessly become a sequencer (validator) by staking a minimum of 1 GNO to join the queue and wait to obtain block production rights. There is no specific censorship resistance mechanism against selective censorship by parts of the active validator set nor a way to force transactions from Ethereum L1.
Ethereum contracts do not validate Gnosis Chain state transitions. Bridge messages are accepted after threshold signatures from dedicated bridge validators.
Data is made available by an external proof of stake network of validators. Since there is no DA bridge, Ethereum cannot verify whether any data was made available on Gnosis Chain or whether incoming messages originate from state that was attested to by the PoS network.
There is no window for users to exit in case of an unwanted upgrade since contracts are instantly upgradable.
The Gnosis Chain bridge is not validated by its PoS validator set. Withdrawals through the xDAI bridge require 4/7 validator signatures, while AMB and Omnibridge withdrawals require 4/7 validator signatures. The bridge validators can freeze bridge transactions and/or steal bridge-locked and minted assets. Transactions on Gnosis Chain itself cannot be forced from Ethereum. If the chain has a liveness failure due to blanket censorship or operator walkaway the only recourse are new validators joining the open validator set.
Transaction data is stored on Gnosis Chain
Funds can be frozen if transaction data is unavailable and bridge validators cannot reconstruct or sign the messages needed to exit.
Funds can be stolen if bridge validators sign fraudulent messages that release more assets on Ethereum than were burned or locked on Gnosis.
Funds can be stolen if the Gnosis validator set finalizes an invalid chain state and the bridge validators sign messages derived from it.
Funds can be frozen if bridge validators stop signing messages or Gnosis Chain stops finalizing blocks.
Past upgrades
The metrics include upgrades on the currently used proxy contracts. Historical proxy contracts and changes of such are not included.
Encrypted mempool (Shutter Network Beta)
A subset of Gnosis Chain validators is currently running a modified node version that supports threshold-encrypted transaction payloads. This allows to ‘encrypt the mempool’ and protect against malicious MEV and censorship with significant caveats. To encrypt the transaction, users have to either use custom wallets or a trusted encrypting rpc proxy. Decryption is handled by participating validators sharing their decryption key shares at the target block, allowing the proposer to decrypt the transaction and include and execute (or censor) it.
Destination tokens can be upgradeable
Omnibridge uses token factories to deploy wrapped ERC20 representations for assets native to the other chain. The token factory owner can change the implementation used for newly deployed wrapped tokens.
Funds can be stolen if a malicious or vulnerable wrapped token implementation is configured for newly bridged assets.
Gnosis Chain
Roles:
can sign bridge messages between Ethereum and Gnosis.
Actors:
A Multisig with 8/15 threshold.
- Can upgrade with no delay
- SBCDepositContract
- HomeAMB
- HomeAMB Validators
- HomeOmnibridge
- Can interact with SBCDepositContract
- pause or unpause beacon chain deposits, execute system withdrawals manually if required, and recover accidentally sent non-stake tokens
- Can interact with HomeOmnibridge Fee Manager
- change Omnibridge fee schedules and the list of addresses that receive distributed bridge fees
- Can interact with HomeOmnibridge Gas Limit Manager
- change default, selector-specific, and token-specific gas limits used by HomeOmnibridge cross-chain messages
- Can interact with HomeAMB
- Can interact with HomeAMB Validators
- change the threshold and manage signers
- Can interact with HomeOmnibridge Forwarding Rules Manager
- change which Omnibridge transfers are routed through the oracle-driven lane or forced into the manual lane
- Can interact with HomeOmnibridge TokenFactory
- change the token implementation used for newly deployed Omnibridge wrapped tokens
- Can interact with HomeOmnibridge
A Multisig with 4/7 threshold. Validator set contract used by the bridge to require threshold signatures before cross-chain messages can be executed.
- Can interact with GNO token
- mint the token, update the designated bridge contract, recover unsupported tokens accidentally sent to the contract and set the
mintingFinishedstate, which disallows further minting HomeAMB → HomeOmnibridge
- mint the token, update the designated bridge contract, recover unsupported tokens accidentally sent to the contract and set the
A Multisig with 2/3 threshold. Member of Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis).
- Can upgrade with no delay
- GNO token
Member of HomeAMB Validators.
- A Validator - acting directly
Ethereum
Roles:
can sign bridge messages between Ethereum and Gnosis.
Actors:
A Multisig with 8/15 threshold.
- Can upgrade with no delay
- XDaiForeignBridge
- ForeignAMB
- ForeignOmnibridge
- BridgeRouter BridgeRouter ProxyAdmin
- XDai Bridge Validators
- AMB Validators
- Can interact with XDaiForeignBridge
- Can interact with ForeignAMB
- Can interact with ForeignOmnibridge TokenFactory
- change the token implementation used for newly deployed Omnibridge wrapped tokens
- Can interact with ForeignOmnibridge
- Can interact with BridgeRouter
- change the DAI and USDS bridge routes and recover ETH or ERC20 tokens locked in the router
- Can interact with WETHOmnibridgeRouter
- claim ETH or ERC20 tokens that remain stuck in the WETH Omnibridge router
- Can interact with XDai Bridge Validators
- change the threshold and manage signers
- Can interact with AMB Validators
- change the threshold and manage signers
A Multisig with 2/3 threshold. Member of Gnosis Bridge Multisig (Ethereum).
Member of AMB Validators.
- A Validator - acting directly
Member of XDai Bridge Validators.
- A Validator - acting directly
Member of XDai Bridge Validators, AMB Validators.
- A Validator - acting directly
Gnosis Chain
Gnosis Beacon Chain deposit contract escrowing all validator-staked GNO. Differs from the similar contract on Ethereum by being upgradable, allowing critical permissioned function access and using the non-gastoken GNO as its staking token.
- Roles:
- admin: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Immutable GNO token smart contract contract, administered from the Ethereum side by the Gnosis Bridge contract.
- Roles:
- admin: EOA 1
- owner: HomeOmnibridge; ultimately HomeAMB Validators
Fee manager used by HomeOmnibridge to calculate and distribute bridge fees to a configured reward address list.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Module used by HomeOmnibridge to choose default, selector-specific, and token-specific gas limits for cross-chain Omnibridge message execution.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Gnosis-side Arbitrary Message Bridge endpoint that verifies validator signatures before relaying cross-chain calls to Ethereum. Hashi can be enabled as an additional verification layer.
- Roles:
- admin: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
- upgradeabilityOwner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
- validatorContract: HomeAMB Validators
Module used by HomeOmnibridge to decide whether specific tokens, senders, or receivers must use the oracle-driven lane or the manual lane for bridge requests.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Factory used by Omnibridge to deploy wrapped tokens representing assets native to the other chain.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Gnosis-side Omnibridge mediator used for arbitrary token transfers between Gnosis and Ethereum via the AMB bridge.
- Roles:
- admin: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
- bridgeContract: HomeAMB
- owner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
- upgradeabilityOwner: Gnosis Multisig (Gnosis)
Ethereum
Factory used by Omnibridge to deploy wrapped tokens representing assets native to the other chain.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Bridge Multisig (Ethereum)
All supported tokens in this escrow are included in the value secured calculation.
Entry router for bridging between Ethereum and Gnosis. It routes DAI and USDS through the legacy xDAI bridge, ETH through the WETH Omnibridge router, and other ERC20 tokens through Omnibridge.
- Roles:
- owner: Gnosis Bridge Multisig (Ethereum)
The current deployment carries some associated risks:
Funds can be stolen if a contract receives a malicious code upgrade. There is no delay on code upgrades (CRITICAL).