GnosisDAO has approved a proposal to move Gnosis Chain from a standalone layer-1 network to a ZK-proven Ethereum Economic Zone rollup, marking a major planned change in how the chain would operate and settle transactions.

The governance vote on GIP-153 drew 123,425 GNO in turnout from 54 voters, comfortably above the 75,000 quorum. Of that total, 123,158 GNO supported the proposal, while 115 voted against and 151 abstained.

What the proposal changes

Under the approved plan, Gnosis Chain’s current validator set would be retired. Instead of finalizing activity through its own validator network, the chain would settle transactions on Ethereum and operate as a layer-2 network that depends on Ethereum’s validators for settlement.

The proposal sets an initial deployment target of late 2026 or early 2027. That timeline is conditional on the necessary Ethereum Economic Zone technology being ready.

Why GnosisDAO wants the shift

The proposal says the move would give Gnosis Chain capabilities that are not currently available on existing layer-2 networks. In particular, Gnosis Chain-native smart contracts would be able to call Ethereum and use the result within the same transaction.

That design is intended to give the network direct access to Ethereum mainnet assets and liquidity while keeping an environment optimized for consumers. Supporters of the model argue that tighter interaction with Ethereum could improve how applications and assets work across connected networks.

What stays the same on Gnosis Chain

If the transition is completed, Gnosis Chain would become the first deployed instance of an Ethereum Economic Zone. At the same time, the proposal says the network would keep its existing applications, user balances and xDAI gas token.

That continuity is notable because the change concerns the chain’s underlying architecture rather than a full reset of the ecosystem built on top of it. The aim is to shift settlement and security assumptions while preserving the user-facing environment already in place on the network.

Broader Ethereum context

The proposal presents EEZ as a way to reduce dependence on bridges and keep more activity inside the Ethereum ecosystem. It also argues that the model could improve composability, allowing smart contracts on different participating networks to interact within the same transaction.

Questions around layer-2 design remain part of the wider discussion. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has previously pointed to centralized sequencers and trusted bridging mechanisms as possible weak points in some L2 architectures.

Next confirmed step

With the DAO vote complete, the next confirmed milestone is technical readiness. GnosisDAO’s approved plan targets a launch in late 2026 or early 2027, but only if the required EEZ infrastructure is available by then.

Until that work is ready, the approval establishes the direction of travel for Gnosis Chain rather than an immediate network conversion.

Source: cointelegraph.com