GIP-125: Gnosis Pay Loyalty & Cashback Program v2

[MaCos]

GIP-125: Gnosis Pay Loyalty & Cashback Program v2

• In Favour
• Against

GIP: 125
title: GIP-Draft: Gnosis Pay Loyalty & Cashback Program v2 
author: MaCos
status: Draft
type: Meta
created: 2025-04-30
duration: 
funding: 

Gnosis Pay Loyalty & Cashback Program v2

Sustainability, Long-Term Holding, and NFTs as Access Passes

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Abstract

We propose a structural revision of the Gnosis Pay cashback program based on three key principles: economic sustainability, long-term user loyalty, and transparent user onboarding.
This proposal introduces USD-anchored entry levels (converted to GNO at the time of access), NFT-based access passes, weekly snapshots to enforce GNO holding, and cashback distribution via expiring tokens.
All mechanisms are designed to be fully implementable on Gnosis Chain, supporting DAO governance and sustainable growth.

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Motivation

Crypto card cashback programs often suffer the same fate: they attract short-term “farm-and-dump” users, quickly deplete funding, and offer little lasting value to the DAO.
Gnosis Pay has a unique opportunity to stand out with a rewards structure that prioritizes loyalty, protects the treasury, and promotes meaningful GNO holding over time.

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Specification

1. USD-Based Cashback Access via NFT

• Entry to the cashback program is based on USD amounts, not fixed GNO quantities.
• Users select a tier (e.g. $500, $1000, $2500), and the required GNO amount is calculated at the current exchange rate.
• Upon entry, users receive a soulbound NFT that:
  • Grants the assigned cashback percentage (e.g. 1%, 2%, 3%)
  • Locks in the required GNO amount, which must be held continuously in the same wallet.
• If the wallet’s GNO balance drops below the required level:
  • The NFT is automatically burned.
  • Cashback rights are immediately revoked.
  • Users must restart the process from scratch using the current GNO/USD rate.

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2. Cashback as Expiring Token

• Cashback is distributed in the form of a non-transferable expiring token, pegged to the value of GNO at the time of issuance.
• The expiration period depends on the portion of cashback earned:
  • First $10 per week → 12-week expiry
  • Next $5 → 6-week expiry
  • Additional $5 chunks → 3-week expiry
• Early redemption penalty:
  • Redeeming before expiry incurs a value loss, e.g. 30% if withdrawn halfway.
  • Burned value (unlocked early) is redirected back into the DAO’s cashback pool.

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3. Dynamic Cashback Cap Based on Card Usage

• Users begin with a monthly cashback cap of $20.
• If the user makes 20+ transactions in a month:
  • Their monthly cap increases by $5 for the next month.
  • The cap can grow up to $50.
• If the user makes fewer than 20 transactions, their cap decreases by $5.

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4. Weekly GNO Holding Snapshots

• Weekly on-chain snapshots check if users still hold the required amount of GNO for their NFT level.
• Consecutive weeks of holding build up a loyalty bonus:
  • 4 weeks → +0.1%
  • 16 weeks → +0.2%
  • 32 weeks → +0.4%
  • 64 weeks → +0.6%
• If the holding requirement is broken, the bonus is lost and resets to zero.

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5. Existing NFT Rewards

• Legacy NFTs that grant a +1% cashback bonus remain valid and stackable with the new structure.

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Tables

Cashback Entry Levels

USD Value	% Cashback	GNO Required (example GNO = $200)
$500	1%	2.5 GNO
$1000	2%	5 GNO
$2500	3%	12.5 GNO

Monthly Cashback Cap

Monthly Card Usage	Max Cashback Next Month
< 20 tx	-$5
≥ 20 tx	+$5
Absolute Max	$50

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Benefits

• Sustainable: Cashback distribution is gradual, conditional, and aligned with actual card usage.
• Stable onboarding: GNO entry requirements are anchored in USD and consistent across users.
• Loyalty-focused: Long-term GNO holders receive increasing benefits.
• Flexible yet secure: Early redemption is allowed, but not optimal.
• Fully on-chain: All components (NFTs, tokens, snapshots) can be implemented on Gnosis Chain.

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Conclusion

This proposal outlines a robust, transparent, and forward-thinking cashback system for Gnosis Pay.
It rewards loyal users, aligns incentives with GNO holding, and protects the DAO treasury through conditional mechanics.
We invite the Gnosis DAO to support and refine this sustainable model for long-term adoption.

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Gnosis Snapshot

Phase 2 Proposals: Please ignore this section, and leave as is. It is used for Phase 3 proposals.
Phase 3 Proposals: Add a link to the corresponding Gnosis Snapshot poll you’ve created.

[nesk]

Interesting! I like some of the improvements you are proposing, particularly your points 2-4.

I think your proposal aima to solve the following issues:

1. GNO price volatility makes it “unfair” and potentially cheap/expensive to access certain cashback levels.

2. Users farm and dump rewards

3. Users use the card for large tickets but not necessarily on their day to day

4. Users buy GNO to get the rewards and then sell them

Before moving forward with any change, I would validate if these are actually issues. Are users dumping the rewards? Are users cashback receivers short term or long term holders? Do cashback receivers just use the card of larger tickets or do they also do many txs?

[Viszla]

Love it, keep up the good work, will be voting yes. You folks are in the weeds on this, so you know whats needed

[mrtdlgc]

Is this GIP proposing a revision on the ongoing cashback subsidized by the DAO? Or is it for a possible later iteration?

[gno-investor]

Those are interesting changes, but rather drastic. I’d definitely keep the program for major holders(100GNO+). Right now only a handful of people use it, but it’s great for marketing!

By the way, I don’t see any info about who you are in the post. Your account was just created yesterday, are you someone from Gnosis Pay?

[N0xyGen]

It’s pretty clear from my perspective that the current cashback system is not sustainable, so I welcome suggestions to change the current system. Because so far the growth of Gnosis Pay is still very modest and therefore the actual goal of Gnosis Pay and the cashback, namely to attract new users to the Gnosis ecosystem, is being missed.

In my opinion, the reasons for this are, on the one hand, the increasing competitive pressure (a new crypto card is launched almost every week) and, on the other, the complicated onboarding process for non-crypto natives. I can’t currently recommend the card to non-crypto natives without having to provide lifelong support. This slows down growth enormously! CDC was successful with the crypto card because of marketing, but also because of the simplicity! If we don’t address non-crypto natives, Gnosis Pay will forever be a niche product.

That said, I see parts of your proposal as an additional layer of complexity (risk of losing cashback incentives, monthly minimum transactions, cashback caps etc.) and we don’t need this additional complexity at this stage in my opinion. I therefore vote against it until the proposal is simplified in this respect and no additional complexity layer is added.

[dave]

This proposal seems overly complex IMO. As others mentioned it’s already hard to get “normies” to onboard to GPay, now adding NFTs, dynamic requirements, vested rewards etc. only just adds friction.

Yes, GNO is volatile, but users are the ones bearing that risk - and it’s not straight-forward to hedge given GNO is not really listed on perps. It likely makes sense to revisit the tiers in the future, but having them USD denominated feels weird, given the very volatility you mention. But for now they seem more or less fair to me.

While there is a lot of competition, GPay is truly programmable and AFAIK architecturally different to the competitors. Most users likely don’t care, but the programmability this offers is great in the long-term. Also the integrations into Metri / Zeal. So while I agree that the cashbacks are unsustainable long-term they’re a great short term way to attract users and drive volumes. It’s my default card now since they support Apple Pay - the cashback is great but for someone crypto-native the ability to move EURe on the card and have it spendable in seconds is great.

[CryptosNF]

For my part, I’ll say no to this proposal

I agree with the other comments, although we know that the current system is untenable, the one proposed is too drastic, too complex for non-crypto natives.

It’s important to remember that the aim of Gnosis Pay isn’t just to find crypto bro, but to bring in the average Joe and Jane.

And that doesn’t seem realistic at the moment with this proposal.

Nevertheless, there may be some interesting ideas

[ZaviaI]

Actually this is a pretty good proposal and more sustainable than the current cashback system.

i do agree with the others that its maybe a to complex system to onboard “normies”.
but on the other hand this way its a more fair system than what we have at the moment.
especially, 3. Dynamic of the cashback based on card usage.

im not so sure if i like, 2. Cashback as expiring token.

even though i stack my earned GNO tokens and hope others do that as well. but it doesnt really seem like a real fair cashback in my opinion, because it doesnt really seem to be really fair that you have to wait for the expiry to be able to use your cashback without getting penalized. and maybe it will slow down newcomers because of it.

question about 1. USD-based cashback acces via NFT:

• If the wallet’s GNO balance drops below the required level:
  • The NFT is automatically burned.
  • Cashback rights are immediately revoked.
  • Users must restart the process from scratch using the current GNO/USD rate.

does that mean that you take out your locked GNO? or that the USD value of the GNO drops?

if the USD value of the GNO token drops and you get penalized for it, that would make the system a bit unfair and difficult to keep up with it.

otherwise, it sounds like a good idea to me.

for now i will abstain, but i really like the direction that this proposal is going.

Edit: never mind, after reading into what others have to say, i changed my mind.
i still think we need to come up with a better sustainable cashback program, but this is not it and would scare away users.

fro now lets leave the cashback program as it is.

i will vote NO.

[armog]

In my opinion, there’s a significant difference between ‘farm and dump’ behavior and user personas compared to the Gnosis Pay cashback program users. For the most part, those participating in the Gnosis Pay cashback program accumulate their rewards and, by spending, earn more GNO, thus receiving more rewards.

It’s possible to understand this by looking at the Gnosis Pay dashboard on Dune. First, we’ll look at the number of users participating in the GP Cashback program and the average amount of GNO they hold in their wallets. Then, let’s compare the trend of this GNO amount over time.

Out of the total 3224 users participating in the program, almost half (1646) hold between 1-10 GNO, the number of users holding 10-100 GNO is 701, there are 599 users with 0.1 - 1 GNO, and 223 users with less than 0.1 GNO. There are 55 users who hold between 100-1000 GNO in their wallets. See here:

Let’s have a look the average amount of GNO they hold in their wallets.

If we compare the trend of this GNO amount over time, we can understand the general behavior of these users by looking at the amount of GNO accumulated in the wallets of Gnosis Pay users. If we were to observe farm & dump behavior, the growth trend would have a wavy appearance in this chart.

We can see the trend of safe addresses receiving GP cashback buy (Orange) / sell (blue) activity GNO on DEX. The balanced structure here and even the peak of GNO buying in April shows a tendency towards different and complex uses rather than one-way sales behavior. Basically as like markets, Gnosis Pay cashback receivers typically seek an equilibrium. In other words, they try to establish a continuous balance between buying and selling GNO. Check here:

What if this Gnosis Pay Historical GNO Balances graph is created by new users joining the program? Let’s consider the view that more users buy more GNO and increase the amount of GNO in wallets by joining the program. As we can see in this graph, the number of users joining the program has not increased exponentially and has created a stable user base.

In short, it wouldn’t be a wrong interpretation to say that GP cashback users are accumulating their rewards. While the data shows users accumulating GNO, it’s important to remember that correlation doesn’t equal causation. It’s possible that other factors are influencing GNO holdings besides the cashback program.

(Check all data and dashboards over here)

I think the questions we should be asking here are how can we make GNO an attractive asset and how these rewards can be re-evaluated within the Gnosis DeFi ecosystem. While aiming for users to hold more GNO like 10-100 is good in the short term, in the long term, it will create a meaningless situation for users. Why would I keep 100 GNO in my wallet for a 5% cashback? I could take it to Aave and borrow EURe and spend EURe, also get small amount of cashback and pay my debt and repeat again.

In my view, while the cashback program provides good user acquisition for the short and medium term, what’s truly fascinating is Gnosis Pay that due to its programmable structure, applications aimed at integrating it with the DeFi ecosystem will enable it to move to the next level and will be a very strong growth vector. Through tools that simplify the experience, such as 1-click tools developed for wallets such as Zeal, Metri and Picnic, we should ensure that GNOs function as a kind of rocket fuel for the Gnosis DeFi ecosystem. With 1-click steps, GP users could seamlessly purchase ETFs, provide liquidity (LP), or participate in staking with their GNO and their cashback rewards. All of these activities would become income-generating instruments. It is possible to make automatic ETF purchases seamlessly with cashback rewards on Gnosis Pay. What is lacking is its practical application, not its theoretical one.

Lastly, to build a better user experience perspective, it is essential to conduct really comprehensive user research work. I wouldn’t build the cashback v2 program on assumptions without conducting a detailed user analysis and user research, and without thoroughly analyzing user behaviors. I think this is another story that should be worked on.

[CryptosNF]

I’d also add that beyond just viewing cashback in fiat or GNO terms, we can explore other benefits that help onboard new users in different ways.

We could create commercial collaborations with Web3 projects or crypto-native services, and offer exclusive deals to Gnosis Pay users who lock GNO for rewards.

Here are a few quick ideas I thought of on the fly:
• Discounts on Rotki app subscriptions (which integrates very well with Gnosis Pay)
• Discounts on crypto tax calculation tools — useful for users in jurisdictions where crypto is taxable
• Discounts on portfolio tracking tools (like CoinStats, DeBank, etc.)
• Discounts on ENS domain names (especially since ENS is available on Gnosis Pay)
• Discounts on crypto events, whether organized by Gnosis or not

These perks could be tied to a GNO lock level, or gated through NFTs that grant access to different user tiers.

We could also consider dynamic benefits based on card usage — for example, based on number of transactions or volume:
• Access to more virtual cards (when available)
• More free ATM withdrawals
• Higher spending limits, etc.

These are features already common in neobank models, and I believe Gnosis could explore this direction to help incentivize active users and drive retention.

As for pure cashback — whether in GNO or even in stables — I think it could be worth exploring the creation of a Gnosis Pay treasury.

The idea would be to deploy assets within the Gnosis DeFi ecosystem to generate yield, which could then be redistributed to users participating in the cashback program.

(Of course, the key question is how to fund this treasury in a sustainable way.)

Thanks to Gnosis Pay’s architecture, we have the potential for broad integration, and I think it’s time to really leverage that.

In my opinion, Gnosis Pay has become a central product in the ecosystem, especially since the roadmap 3.0, so it makes sense to push adoption and usage as much as we can.

Just a few thoughts — no figures or hard data — and I’m sure the Gnosis team has already thought about much of this. But I wanted to take the opportunity to share my perspective anyway.

[N0xyGen]

Thank you for your detailed contribution. But you missed the main point (or I overlooked it). At some point the cashback incentive will end and the question is how to ensure that Gnosis Pay can continue to pay cashback (sustainable) to users.

Users are simple: spend = cashback - No Cashback = next Card

Everything else would be wonderful if this is additionally possible (Zeal could easily integrate a swap to backed products?), but without cashback users will move on and all the graphs you mentioned are meaningless.

I really ask everyone responsible for Gnosis Pay to internalize this. Nobody will be interested in any additional features if the main feature cashback is missing. It’s as simple as that.

[armog]

If we can evaluate cashback together with Metri, Gnosis Pay and Circles (MPC) in line with the Gnosis 3.0 vision, we will achieve a more meaningful user acquisition. Circles offers us quite big opportunities and when we surround a user with these three projects, using Circles as a cashback mechanism can be evaluated. I don’t know how this will happen right now, but with the modular structure of Circles, the reward/spending mechanisms of Gnosis products and services can be realized through CRC. Just like it is done with GNO today. @N0xyGen

[N0xyGen]

Interesting idea to bring circle into play. I’ll have to give it some thought.

[SadoMaso]

The most important thing to do would be to cap the maximum possible cashback earn by users

200$(2gno max)/month 50$(0.5gno max)/week should be tested…it wont bother any regular users…only farmers/gamers will be kicked out

You dont need the farmers anymore… the economy made should be redistributed to daily users…like if you use the card 5days out of 7 you get 0.5% cashback extra on the following week

[MaCos]

I’d like to highlight a critical issue that I believe needs immediate attention: the current cashback program is depleting far too quickly. This not only undermines user loyalty but also weakens the perceived value of the program. Without a clear and sustainable renewal plan, there’s a real risk that users will start migrating to other cards offering more consistent and long-term incentives.

Personally, I’m not interested in a card that simply distributes GNO until the budget runs out. What I’d like to see is a project that makes GNO more attractive to hold and use, with mechanisms that help users and investors recognize lasting value in the broader Gnosis Pay ecosystem.

My proposal may not be perfect, but it’s rooted in the need to build something more structured and complex — because sustainability often requires more than a simple mechanism. Simplicity is great in theory, but when it comes to building effective and durable economic incentives, a certain level of sophistication is essential.

Otherwise, we’re left with a basic system that only works as long as funds are available — not scalable, not resilient.

I hope this opens the door to a more concrete discussion on how to renew the program, because there’s still strong potential here — but only if we start thinking long-term, not just short-term funding extensions.

[mkoeppelmann]

Thank you @MaCos for kicking of this discussion.

Here are some high level thoughts:

1. Friction vs Rewards
   When Gnosis Pay started it had still relative high friction to use it. This is getting better every month (SEPA integration, Apple Pay just recently) - virtual cards, better integrations into wallets coming soon.
   So while still high friction - rewards had to be relatively high, when friction goes down and gets to the overall convenience of a good Neo-bank I believe it is also sufficient to have rewards (cashback) that is only slightly better than those Neo-banks

2. Wider integration into Gnosis ecosystem
   A key strategy needs to be that GP users use the chain/ Gnosis ecosystem for as many things as possible:
   a) earn interest on sDAI
   b) deposit EURe on Aave
   c) borrow against crypto on Aave
   d) invest into https://defi.backed.fi/
   e) trade crypto on Cowswap (on Gnosis)
   f) …

For a) and b) Zeal offers already a nice integration with Gnosis Pay.

3. Circles (https://aboutcircles.com/)
   This is one of the most ambitious projects we are working on at Gnosis. To me personally Circles is about “creating fair money” - but you can also think of it as a way to create incentives for the distribution of a wallet. Think of it like worldcoin - why do people get the wordcoin wallet? Because of the “airdrop” (free money) - however - the strategy might work for worldcoin as millions of users that are onboarded to your wallet/chain are valuable in itself.

In ~2 weeks https://metri.xyz/ will launch (dm me if you want to use it already). It will have Circles as the main feature but also come with Gnosis Pay integration - which will improve further over time.

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So the most sustainable use of GNO incentives will not only boost Gnosis Pay in isolation but rather make use of as many as possible products and protocols on Gnosis chain. This will mean: a) a user gets more value as they are already using more services and b) Gnosis (and therefore GNO) can capture more value as more usage of products will mean more network effects and ultimately value capture for GNO.

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Coming back to concrete proposals:
So far ~4000 GNO have been spent out of 10,000 that have been allocated to this program. The current program will probably last another 3-4 month at the current pace of payouts (and GNO price).
GnosisDAO should certainly allocate more GNO for a second program but indeed modify conditions.

Ideally the new program will also incentive usage of:
a) Saving or borrowing (Aave)
b) Investing (backed or crypto)
c) Circles

[Luigidm91]

I agree with the messages above and I propose some things that should have been there from the start on the current cashback: - maximum level 2% in line with the traditional market - limit on rewards at max 100 usd - rewards blocked for months to avoid immediate sale - encourage users to use the ecosystem through additional rewards

[lefterisjp]

I think the original proposal is extremely complicated. We want to attract normies to use this. Not crypto native people.

The current cashback program has succeeded in bringing a lot of new users to gnosis pay and making changes without any user research can end up hurting this.

Also as others posted most people are stacking their rewards in the hope of getting more cashback. As such the current program is actually achieving its goals and is helping people stack GNO, presumably helping the DAO.

If you want to do any changes to the current program other than just extending it then I would suggest to identify, beyond any doubt what is “wrong” and can be improved in the current program.

For example if the problem is that GNO is running out too fast perhaps then some rules can be introduced to reduce how much a single card can get per transaction or per week. So put some upper limits. To avoid situations where someone would pay their car via installments on gnosis pay or something.

[Louk]

A lot of payment solutions are launching right now. It feels like there is a new crypto card every week, such as EtherFi, Karak, and others. The competition is getting intense very quickly.

In this context, I agree the program needs to be sustainable, but it also has to be much more aggressive with incentives if Gnosis Pay wants to stay visible and competitive.

The proposed mechanics are interesting for limiting farming, but we should be careful not to overcomplicate the user experience. If it is simple, users stick around.

I support an ambitious approach. Clarity and speed of execution are key.