A long-running sidechain takes its first step toward full Ethereum alignment
Gnosis Chain has begun the technical work of tying itself more closely to Ethereum's security and standards, an early test of the 'economic zone' idea.
NEW YORK —
Gnosis Chain, one of the oldest independent networks in the Ethereum orbit, has begun a migration intended to bind it more tightly to Ethereum's security guarantees and shared standards rather than run as a fully separate consensus system.
The proposal is the first substantial test of an idea circulating among Ethereum researchers: that networks which already share tooling, addresses and developer culture should also share settlement assurances, forming something closer to a single economic area than a constellation of bridges.
Technically the work is unglamorous. It means adopting the same fork schedule, routing withdrawals through a settlement path anchored on Ethereum, and accepting constraints on how independently validators can act. Politically it is harder, because a chain with its own token and its own validator set is being asked to subordinate part of its autonomy.
Supporters argue the alternative is worse: independent chains have borne the cost of most of the sector's bridge failures, and users have stopped distinguishing between a network's own security and the security of the bridge they used to reach it.
Whether other networks follow will depend on what the migration costs in practice. Several teams said privately that they are waiting to see the first one finish before committing.