HCS Score
68/100
Research Opinion, Not a Fatwa
These are absolute prohibitions in Islamic finance. If any red line is triggered, the asset is automatically classified as HARAM.
Ecosystem Riba Exposure
Not directly or indirectly connected to interest generating mechanisms
Gambling / Betting
No gambling or betting mechanism
Haram Industry
Not involved in haram industry
The asset is scored across 7 Shariah principles.
Based on Red Line Screening and HCS Scoring.
Halal with Concerns
This cryptocurrency is evaluated as Halal with Concerns because certain financial, structural, or speculative risks remain within the CoinStudy HCS framework.
Explanation
This asset demonstrates moderate alignment with Sharia principles, though certain financial or structural concerns remain.
Reviewed by
CoinStudy Shariah Board
Some blockchain projects are easy to classify. They do one thing clearly and that one thing is either permissible or not.
Gnosis is not one of those projects.
Founded in 2015 and launched as a prediction market platform in 2017, Gnosis has transformed over nine years into one of the most technically ambitious and structurally complex ecosystems in the Ethereum space. Safe secures over $60 billion in assets. CoW Protocol has processed over $130 billion in trading volume. Gnosis Pay enables self-custodial spending at any Visa merchant globally. Gnosis Chain has operated as an Ethereum sidechain with zero downtime for years.
That breadth and that evolution create a compliance analysis that requires careful and precise examination of each component separately before drawing any conclusion about GNO as a whole.
We ran GNO through the full CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard (HCS) methodology. Here is the complete picture.
GNO passes the CoinStudy HCS Sharia red-line screening with no direct violations. It scores 68 out of 100 and is classified as Halal With Concerns. The core infrastructure products of Safe, CoW Protocol, and Gnosis Chain are genuinely permissible. However the prediction market origins and ongoing ecosystem, the Gnosis Pay stablecoin payment integration with haram-classified assets, severe tokenomics concentration concerns, and poor governance transparency create meaningful concerns that Muslim investors must understand clearly.
Gnosis is a full-stack decentralized infrastructure ecosystem built on Ethereum. Its mission is to empower every person with greater financial agency and access while supporting the creation of an open and collectively-owned financial system.
The ecosystem consists of four primary components.
Gnosis Chain is an EVM-compatible Ethereum sidechain providing fast and low-cost transaction infrastructure. It uses xDAI for gas fees and has operated with zero downtime since launch. In April 2026 Gnosis announced the Ethereum Economic Zone initiative to transform Gnosis Chain into a natively integrated Ethereum Layer 2.
Safe, formerly Gnosis Safe, is a smart contract multi-signature wallet securing over $60 billion in digital assets. It is the dominant smart account infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem and is used by DAOs, protocols, and institutional holders globally.
CoW Protocol is a decentralized trading mechanism using batch auctions and coincidence of wants matching to protect traders from MEV and front-running. It has processed over $130 billion in trading volume and is considered one of the most genuinely user-protective DEX mechanisms available.
Gnosis Pay is a self-custodial payment card network enabling users to spend crypto directly from their smart account wallets at any Visa merchant globally.
The GNO token serves three primary functions: staking on Gnosis Beacon Chain to secure the network through Proof of Stake validation, governance voting in GnosisDAO over the ecosystem's $223 million treasury, and acting as an index token economically coupled with incubated ecosystem projects through GnosisVC.
This is the most important compliance context for understanding Gnosis and it deserves honest and direct engagement.
Gnosis was originally founded to build decentralized prediction market infrastructure. The Conditional Tokens framework, one of Gnosis's original core contributions to Ethereum, enables the creation of prediction market instruments where payoffs are conditional on future event outcomes.
CoinStudy classifies prediction markets as Haram under the Gambling and Betting red line due to their structure as financial speculation on uncertain future events, similar to sports betting in their economic mechanism.
Gnosis 3.0, the current strategic roadmap, includes prediction market applications as part of the ecosystem's consumer-facing Gnosis App. The MetaMask price page for GNO explicitly lists prediction markets as one of the headline use cases alongside spot trading, leverage trading, and earning passive income.
This creates a specific compliance concern that requires careful analysis. Gnosis Chain is neutral EVM infrastructure that happens to host prediction market applications. The Conditional Tokens framework that enables prediction markets is a Gnosis-created and Gnosis-promoted technology. And prediction markets are explicitly included in Gnosis's own strategic vision for its consumer product.
Following the three-tier infrastructure framework CoinStudy established in our infrastructure neutrality blog, Gnosis sits in Tier Two territory, where the infrastructure provider's own published strategic communications explicitly identify a haram-classified use case as a component of its ecosystem and product vision. This is more serious than a neutral infrastructure platform that incidentally hosts some prohibited applications, but less direct than a platform whose primary commercial product is the prohibited activity itself.
This is the primary driver of the Financial Exposure Risk score of 18 out of 25, which is significantly lower than genuinely neutral infrastructure like Ethereum or Chainlink.
Before addressing the specific concerns, it is important to acknowledge what is genuinely permissible in this ecosystem, because CoinStudy values honest analysis in both directions.
Safe is a multi-signature wallet and smart account infrastructure. Securing digital assets through multi-party authorization is a genuinely permissible and valuable service. The fact that Safe secures $60 billion in assets reflects its genuine utility as trustworthy infrastructure.
CoW Protocol's batch auction mechanism and coincidence of wants matching is a genuinely innovative and permissible trading approach. By matching buyers and sellers directly and protecting traders from MEV extraction, CoW Protocol actually addresses some of the extractive dynamics that CoinStudy identified as concerns in MEV-related analyses. The mechanism is permissible and its anti-extraction purpose aligns with Islamic finance principles of fair and honest trade.
Gnosis Chain as neutral EVM infrastructure is permissible infrastructure, subject to the same ecosystem application concerns that apply to Ethereum and other general-purpose smart contract platforms.
These are real and meaningful permissible components that distinguish Gnosis from pure speculation or from protocols whose core mechanisms are inherently prohibited.
Gnosis Pay enables users to spend crypto from self-custodial wallets at Visa merchants. On the surface this is a permissible and genuinely useful payment service.
However Gnosis Pay's primary use case is spending stablecoins. The ecosystem uses xDAI as its native stablecoin, which is DAI wrapped to Gnosis Chain. CoinStudy classifies DAI as Haram due to its debt-based creation mechanism with stability fees that function as interest charges.
A payment network whose primary utility involves transacting in haram-classified stablecoins creates an indirect ecosystem exposure concern. This is not a red-line trigger for GNO itself, following the infrastructure neutrality principle, but it is a meaningful Layer 2 concern that reduces the Financial Exposure Risk score.
This is the most serious practical concern in this analysis and it requires the most direct attention.
Gnosis was launched with a total supply of 10 million GNO. However the GnosisDAO vesting contract holds approximately 6.8 million GNO, which is approximately 68% of the total supply, locked in an eight-year vesting contract that began in November 2020.
This means the public circulating supply of approximately 2.6 million GNO represents only about 26% of total supply. The remaining 74% is either locked in vesting, held by the DAO treasury, or otherwise not freely circulating.
A governance proposal (GIP-140) debated in May 2026 sought to allow GNO holders to redeem tokens for a pro-rata share of the $223 million DAO treasury at approximately $170 per token, while GNO traded significantly below this implied value. The proposal was contentious, with the Gnosis co-founder voting against it and the outcome split.
From an Islamic finance Tokenomics Fairness perspective, a token where 74% of supply is concentrated in vesting contracts and a DAO treasury controlled by the founding team and early insiders, trading at a significant discount to its own treasury's net asset value, raises meaningful fairness and transparency concerns. The ordinary token holder has limited visibility into when and how this concentrated supply enters the market or is deployed.
The Tokenomics Fairness score of 4 out of 10 reflects this serious concentration concern. This is the lowest Tokenomics score CoinStudy has issued for any asset that passes Layer 1 screening.
The Transparency and Governance score of 4 out of 10 reflects several specific concerns.
GnosisDAO controls a $223 million treasury and makes major strategic decisions including the proposed token burn, the Ethereum Economic Zone transition, and the Gnosis 3.0 roadmap. However the relationship between GnosisDAO governance and the operating entities including Gnosis Labs and GnosisVC is not transparently disclosed in a way that allows ordinary GNO holders to understand how decisions are actually made.
The Balancer Hack Recovery Hard Fork in December 2025, where Gnosis executed a coordinated chain upgrade to return $9.4 million in frozen user funds, demonstrates genuine community-protective governance decision-making. However the speed and coordination required for such a decision also illustrates the degree to which a small group of technically capable insiders ultimately controls the chain's direction when necessary.
The GIP-140 governance debate, where the co-founder's single vote nearly decided the outcome of a $223 million treasury decision, illustrates the practical concentration of governance influence despite the nominal token-weighted voting structure.
Gnosis's core infrastructure products are neutral. But the prediction market ecosystem that Gnosis has built, promoted, and included in its strategic vision creates documented indirect facilitation exposure. The Gnosis Pay stablecoin payment integration with haram-classified DAI and USDC creates additional indirect exposure.
The Financial Exposure Risk score of 18 out of 25 reflects genuine infrastructure utility alongside the documented prediction market ecosystem exposure and stablecoin payment integration.
Gnosis's technical architecture is well-documented with nine years of operational history and multiple independent security audits. Safe has undergone extensive formal verification. These reduce technical Gharar meaningfully.
The significant Gharar concerns are governance and tokenomics related. The relationship between GnosisDAO, Gnosis Labs, and GnosisVC is not transparently enough disclosed. The 74% supply overhang in vesting contracts creates ongoing uncertainty about supply dynamics. The Ethereum Economic Zone transition introduces meaningful execution uncertainty. The GIP-140 treasury debate represents unresolved fundamental questions about what GNO actually entitles holders to in practice.
The Maysir score of 8 out of 15 is significantly impacted by two factors.
First, prediction market applications are explicitly part of the Gnosis ecosystem and strategic vision. The economic structure of prediction market activity is what CoinStudy classifies as Maysir regardless of the technological sophistication of the underlying platform.
Second, the MetaMask price page for GNO lists leverage trading with up to 50x as a headline use case alongside spot trading, earning passive income, and prediction markets. While these are third-party applications on Gnosis Chain rather than Gnosis's own products, the explicit association in ecosystem marketing increases the Maysir concern beyond what neutral infrastructure would carry.
Ecosystem Riba Exposure — ✅ Passed. Core Gnosis products including Safe, CoW Protocol, and Gnosis Chain do not directly generate interest income. Indirect concerns from prediction market ecosystem and stablecoin payment integration are reflected in Layer 2 scoring.
Gambling and Betting — ✅ Passed. Prediction markets are applications built on Gnosis infrastructure following user choice, not the Gnosis Chain protocol itself. Infrastructure neutrality principle applied consistently with CoinStudy's methodology.
Haram Industry — ✅ Passed.
Guaranteed Interest — ✅ Passed. Staking rewards are variable Proof of Stake block production rewards, not guaranteed predetermined interest returns.
Synthetic Interest Products — ✅ Passed. GNO is a staking and governance token, not a synthetic interest instrument.
No red line violations were found. GNO is fully eligible for HCS scoring.
Gnosis is scored across 7 Shariah principles with a total of 100 points.
On Financial Exposure Risk, weighted at 25%, GNO scores 18 out of 25. Genuine permissible core products in Safe and CoW Protocol. Significant deductions for the prediction market ecosystem that Gnosis has built and promotes, the Gnosis Pay integration with haram-classified stablecoins as primary transaction currency, and the GnosisVC index token function coupling GNO's value with incubated projects of varied compliance profiles.
On Gharar and Uncertainty, weighted at 15%, GNO scores 11 out of 15. Nine years of operational history and well-audited core products reduce technical Gharar. Significant deductions for governance transparency gaps between GnosisDAO and operating entities, the 74% supply overhang creating ongoing uncertainty, and unresolved fundamental questions about what GNO entitles holders to in the GIP-140 context.
On Maysir and Speculation, weighted at 15%, GNO scores 8 out of 15. Core infrastructure purpose in Safe and Gnosis Chain is genuine and productive. Significant deductions for prediction market applications being an explicit part of Gnosis's strategic vision and ecosystem marketing, and for leverage trading being marketed as a headline Gnosis ecosystem use case.
On Underlying Business Activity, weighted at 15%, GNO scores 13 out of 15. Smart contract wallet security through Safe, batch trading through CoW Protocol, and self-custodial payments through Gnosis Pay are genuinely permissible and valuable activities. Small deduction for the prediction market and leverage trading applications being explicitly included in the ecosystem vision.
On Utility and Real Use, weighted at 10%, GNO scores a perfect 10 out of 10. Safe secures $60 billion in assets. CoW Protocol has processed $130 billion in volume. Gnosis Pay enables $100 million in cumulative payments. Nine years of operational history with zero downtime. This is genuine and substantial real-world utility that cannot be questioned.
On Tokenomics Fairness, weighted at 10%, GNO scores 4 out of 10. The lowest Tokenomics Fairness score in our analysis series for an asset that passes Layer 1 screening. Approximately 74% of total supply is concentrated in DAO treasury and vesting contracts controlled by founding insiders. GNO trades at a persistent discount to its own treasury's net asset value. The GIP-140 debate revealed fundamental unresolved questions about token holder rights versus ecosystem funding priorities.
On Transparency and Governance, weighted at 10%, GNO scores 4 out of 10. Equal to the Tokenomics score and equally low. Opaque relationships between GnosisDAO, Gnosis Labs, and GnosisVC. A co-founder's single vote having decisive influence over $223 million treasury decisions reveals practical governance concentration. Insufficient public disclosure about how vesting contracts, treasury allocations, and operating entity relationships actually work in practice.
Overall HCS Score: 68 out of 100 — Halal With Concerns
Muslim investors evaluating Ethereum ecosystem infrastructure have seen several options in our analysis series.
Ethereum (ETH) — 88/100 Halal. Genuinely neutral general-purpose infrastructure. No direct promotion of haram use cases in strategic vision.
Chainlink (LINK) — 89/100 Halal. Service-based oracle infrastructure. Some DeFi ecosystem exposure but not promoted as a strategic use case.
Celestia (TIA) — 74/100 Halal With Concerns. Vision 2.0 explicitly targets perpetual futures as a growth use case. Moderate tokenomics concerns.
Gnosis (GNO) — 68/100 Halal With Concerns. Permissible core products but prediction market ecosystem is explicitly included in strategic vision. Worst tokenomics transparency in our infrastructure analysis series.
The gap between Gnosis's 68 and Ethereum's 88 reflects primarily the prediction market strategic inclusion and the severe tokenomics transparency failure rather than fundamental problems with Safe or CoW Protocol as products.
Muslim investors evaluating Gnosis need to separate two distinct questions.
First, are the products Gnosis builds permissible? For Safe and CoW Protocol the honest answer is largely yes, with the stablecoin integration caveat for Gnosis Pay.
Second, is GNO a permissible investment token? This is a more complex question because GNO is not simply a Safe token or a CoW Protocol token. It is an index token economically coupled with the entire Gnosis ecosystem including its prediction market applications, its incubated ventures of varied compliance profiles, and a $223 million treasury managed with insufficient transparency for ordinary token holders to assess.
A Muslim investor can acknowledge that Safe is a useful and permissible product while still concluding that GNO as an investment token creates compliance concerns through its broader ecosystem exposure and tokenomics structure.
Before investing in Gnosis, ask yourself honestly.
Do I understand that GNO's value is coupled with the entire Gnosis ecosystem including its prediction market applications and GnosisVC incubated ventures, not just with Safe or CoW Protocol specifically? Am I aware that approximately 74% of GNO's total supply is concentrated in DAO treasury and vesting contracts controlled by founding insiders, with limited transparency about deployment timing and governance? Do I understand the fundamental unresolved questions about what GNO actually entitles holders to, as illustrated by the GIP-140 treasury debate? Am I comfortable with the governance concentration where a co-founder's single vote can have decisive influence over $223 million treasury decisions? Would I be comfortable explaining Gnosis's prediction market ecosystem involvement to a qualified Islamic scholar?
Gnosis (GNO) is classified as Halal With Concerns under the CoinStudy Halal Crypto Standard with a score of 68 out of 100.
It passes all Sharia red-line checks. Safe, CoW Protocol, and Gnosis Chain represent genuinely permissible and valuable infrastructure that serves real and documented economic functions. The perfect Utility and Real Use score of 10 out of 10 is fully deserved and reflects nine years of genuine productive contribution to the Ethereum ecosystem.
The concerns are real and honestly reflected in the score. Prediction markets are explicitly part of Gnosis's strategic vision and ecosystem marketing, creating documented indirect facilitation exposure beyond what genuinely neutral infrastructure would carry. The tokenomics concentration with 74% of supply in insider-controlled vesting and treasury is the worst in our infrastructure analysis series and creates genuine fairness and transparency concerns. The governance opacity between GnosisDAO, Gnosis Labs, and GnosisVC falls significantly short of what a $223 million treasury should disclose.
A score of 68 at the lower end of the Halal With Concerns classification reflects a project whose genuine infrastructure utility is real and permissible, accompanied by specific and serious concerns about ecosystem scope and governance structure that responsible Muslim investors deserve to understand clearly before investing.
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Disclaimer: This analysis is provided for educational and research purposes only. This analysis is based on guidance from CoinStudy's HCS Shariah Board members. CoinStudy does not issue personal fatwas or financial advice. Please consult a qualified Islamic scholar for individual guidance.
Guaranteed Interest
No guaranteed interest obligations
Synthetic Interest Products
No synthetic interest instruments
No Red Line Violations
This asset passed all Sharia red line checks.
Financial Exposure Risk
25%Degree of indirect financial exposure to interest-based products in the broader ecosystem.
Gharar / Uncertainty
15%Clarity in contracts and absence of excessive uncertainty
Maysir / Speculation
15%No gambling-like mechanics or high speculation design
Underlying Business Activity
15%The nature of the project's core business is permissible
Utility / Real Use
10%Genuine utility and real economic value
Tokenomics Fairness
10%Fair distribution, no exploitation, sustainable tokenomics
Transparency & Governance
10%Open-source, audited, clear governance structure
