Gnosis Co-Founder Proposes Plan to Reduce Dependency on Ethereum

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Gnosis Co-Founder Proposes Plan to Reduce Dependency on Ethereum
  • Koppelmann identifies risks in the current GNO-Ethereum structure.
  • The co-founder proposed a solution to change the GNO “source of truth” to the Gnosis chain.
  • The new proposal will allow the community to enforce the DAO vote in the code.

Gnosis co-founder Martin Koppelmann has suggested a change in the blockchain’s protocol to make it more independent and increase the security of GNO, the project’s native token.

During a discussion on the Gnosis governance forum, Koppelmann Identified a security risk involved in the current structure of the protocol. The identified risk involves GNO tokens from a bridge contract used to represent claims between GNO and Ethereum.

Even though GNO was initially minted on Ethereum, Koppelmann thinks the current structure could leave holes that could become potential security issues, as unexpected events could lead to a difference between the two token categories.

According to Koppelmann, depending on bridges to mint unlimited GNO tokens is risky, considering that they are still a potential course of hacks and bugs. He was specific to the dangers it posed for GNO due to the extent of its relevance to the consensus of the Gnosis chain.

Gnosis is a privacy-focused side-chain on Ethereum with the native utility token GNO. Koppelmann noted that while GNO was initially minted on Ethereum, the tokens originate from a bridge contract, hence his concerns.



Bridges are tools used to transfer tokens across blockchain networks. They are relatively new to the blockchain industry and have faced several challenges in their formative years. Per multiple reports, over $2 billion was lost or stolen from cross-bridges in 2022, as they claimed an unfavorable reputation as a security weakness for the crypto industry.

Koppelmann focused on the 10 million GNO tokens supply on Ethereum, suggesting that 7 million of them should be burned. He noted that this is currently unachievable since the code cannot be enforced or carried out automatically through a smart contract by meeting predetermined conditions.

He proposed a solution to change the GNO “source of truth” to the Gnosis chain. According to him, this will allow the community to enforce the DAO vote in the code.

Part of Koppelmann’s proposed solution includes raising the GNO supply on Gnosis to 3 million. He also suggested withdrawing the right from the bridge to mint new tokens and creating a separate new GNO-minting contract for withdrawals occurring from the Ethereum blockchain.

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