Gnosis Chain is a community-owned, EVM-compatible Layer 1 (formerly xDai) secured by 200,000+ validators using a Gnosis Beacon Chain (Ethereum-style PoS with a separate validator set). Mainnet chain ID 100, ~5s block time, native gas token xDAI (a stable-value token bridged from DAI). EVM-equivalent execution and Ethereum-aligned client tooling (Nethermind, Erigon, Reth, Lighthouse, Lodestar, Teku, Prysm) make it credibly neutral and resilient by design.
- 01stable-gas EVM apps (xDAI is roughly $1)
- 02community / public-goods deployments (CoW Protocol, Circles, Hashi, Karpatkey)
- 03Ethereum-equivalent execution at sub-cent fees
- 04high-validator-count credible neutrality
- pnpm add viem wagmi
| Variable | Scope | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NEXT_PUBLIC_GNOSIS_RPC_URL | Client | Gnosis Chain RPC URL (mainnet: https://rpc.gnosischain.com). |
| NEXT_PUBLIC_GNOSIS_CHAIN_ID | Client | Chain ID — 100 for mainnet, 10200 for Chiado testnet. |
Use viem's built-in `gnosis` / `gnosisChiado` chains (`import { gnosis } from 'viem/chains'`) — chain ID 100, gas token xDAI (18 decimals, ~$1 stable), RPC `https://rpc.gnosischain.com`. Solidity contracts deploy unchanged with Foundry: `forge create --rpc-url $GNOSIS_RPC --private-key $PK src/MyContract.sol:MyContract`. Wallets must hold xDAI for gas, not ETH. Bridge DAI->xDAI via the canonical xDai Bridge (`bridge.gnosischain.com`) and other ERC-20s via the Omnibridge or Hashi. GNO is the staking + governance token (separate from xDAI). Indexers The Graph, Goldsky, and Subsquid all support chain 100.
- ⚑Gas token is xDAI (a stable-value token), NOT ETH and NOT GNO. Onboarding flows must seed xDAI on first use — wallets that hardcode ETH as the fee currency will fail. Faucet/paymaster a tiny xDAI drop on first bridge.
- ⚑xDAI on Gnosis Chain is bridged from DAI on mainnet via the xDai Bridge — its peg depends on the bridge solvency. After Sky/MakerDAO's transition to USDS, monitor the xDAI bridge backing and any planned migrations; do not assume xDAI === DAI === USDS forever.
- ⚑Block time is ~5s, not 12s. Tools that hardcode 12s blocks (gas oracles, polling intervals, default reorg buffers) will mis-estimate. Tune confirmation thresholds and polling for ~5s slots.
- ⚑Gnosis Chain has its own beacon chain with its own validator set — Ethereum L1 finality has no bearing here. For high-value flows, wait for Gnosis-side finality (~16 slots / ~80s) rather than treating it as an Ethereum L2.
- ⚑Several mainnet 'standard' addresses don't exist on Gnosis Chain or live at different addresses (e.g., Multicall, ENS resolvers, Permit2). Always look up canonical contract addresses in `docs.gnosischain.com` rather than reusing mainnet constants.
- ⚑USDC on Gnosis Chain is bridged (not Circle-native CCTP). For Circle USDC, use the CCTP-bridged variant when available; token-route logic that assumes one canonical USDC will mismatch.