Districts Β· Satellite islands (sidechains Β· independent EVM chains)
Gnosis Chain
A sidechain that pays gas in xDAI. A town of payments and governance experiments.
Gnosis Chain began in 2018 as xDai Chain and merged with Gnosis at the end of 2021. Fees are paid in xDAI, which tracks the dollar, so costs are easy to predict.
Validators stake GNO, and the chain hosts many real-world payment projects β card payments, for example β and infrastructure experiments.
Backed by the team that pioneered Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) and CoW Protocol, Gnosis Chain is unique in using a US-dollar-pegged stablecoin, xDAI, as its native gas token.
Because gas costs remain predictable in dollar terms, Gnosis Chain powers real-world payment rails such as Gnosis Pay (on-chain Visa debit cards) alongside decentralized governance and public-goods experiments.
| Type | Sidechain |
|---|---|
| Technology | Own validators (PoS) |
| Fees are paid in | xDAI |
| District weather follows | the market-cap-weighted change of this districtβs tokens (GNO) |
Weather in the Monday, October 19, 2026 morning edition: β Cloudy β0.3% Β· Morning Edition β
Main tokens on this chain
- π¦ USDCUSD CoinBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ USDTTetherBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ EUReMonerium EURBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ GHOGHOBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ ZCHFFrankencoinBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ BRLABRLA Digital BRLABanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ TGBPTokenised GBPBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ MIMATICMAIBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ WBRLBrazilian realBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ IDRXIDRXBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ WMXNMexican PesoBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- π¦ WCOPColombian PesoBanks & exchange counters (stablecoins)
- β½ WETHWrapped EtherGas stations (native gas tokens)
- β½ WXDAIxDAI (κ°μ€)Gas stations (native gas tokens)
A selection of the 49 tokens in the siteβs registry for this chain.
Related essays
- The Southeastern Harbor Islands: How EVM Sidechains and Alt-L1s Differ from L2 RollupsWhy Polygon PoS, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Sonic, Berachain, Monad, and Kaia share the EVM but run their own consensus
- Blockchains as Everyday Money: How Celo, Gnosis, Lisk, and Plasma Power Real-World PaymentsFrom mobile phone-number remittances in emerging markets to Visa debit cards and zero-fee USDT transfers
Outside links
Facts on this page are as of 2026-10 and may change. If you spot a mistake, please tell us through the contact page.