Executive Summary
Clarifying tokenomics and treasury composition to align governance and market value.
GNO trades below its intrinsic value, reflecting a gap between the DAO’s underlying assets and the market’s perception of them.
Two factors contribute to this:
- The effective circulating supply of GNO is not clearly defined or regularly updated.
- The valuation of Gnosis venture and VC funds investments (which represent a substantial part of the treasury) are not publicly consolidated.
This proposal asks Gnosis DAO to establish a transparent and updated NAV per GNO, supported by a standardized reporting framework.
The goal is not to alter the treasury’s strategy, but to give the DAO and token holders a reliable view of what they collectively own, and how capital is performing.
- In Favour
- Against
Motivation
Gnosis DAO is one of the most well-capitalized and diversified DAOs in the ecosystem. Yet, GNO’s market valuation does not reflect the intrinsic value of the DAO’s assets.
Over the past year, GNO has significantly underperformed against ETH (-56% vs ETH in the past 12 mos) despite the DAO holding a large amount of ETH and other liquid assets. This disconnect indicates that the market lacks a clear understanding of the treasury’s structure and potential.
Transparency and accurate reporting are fundamental to trust and capital efficiency. Without them, it becomes difficult for token holders to evaluate whether current investments, operations, and treasury management decisions are creating long-term value.
Context
The Gnosis DAO treasury today is composed of:
- Liquid assets: ETH, GNO, SAFE, COW, stablecoins, and other liquid holdings.
- Venture and VC funds investments: through direct investments, Gnosis VC funds, as well as in ecosystem projects and startups.
- DAO-owned GNO: held in various treasury addresses, vesting contracts, and project allocations.
While the treasury dashboards provide an approximate view of the liquid holdings, there is no consolidated, transparent, and regularly updated overview that combines:
- The current effective circulating supply of GNO (total minus DAO-controlled or locked tokens).
- The fair valuation of the DAO’s ventures, VC funds and strategic investments.
This lack of consolidation means that neither the DAO nor the market can calculate a true NAV per GNO, the foundational metric to understand the DAO’s value.
Problem Statement
- Unclear Circulating Supply
- The total supply of GNO is known, but not how much is truly circulating.
- Tokens held by the DAO, locked in vesting contracts, or allocated to projects are not consistently reported or categorized.
- This uncertainty makes it impossible to derive an accurate “backing per GNO.”
- Opaque Valuation of VC Investments
- Over the years, Gnosis DAO has more than 50 venture investments either directly or through Gnosis VC. Additionally, Gnosis DAO is an LP in the following VC funds (non-exhaustive): 1kx, Lightshift, LongHash Ventures, Seed Club Ventures.
- These Gnosis DAO holdings are valuable long-term assets, but there is no consolidated, auditable reporting of their current value or performance.
These holdings should be considered part of the treasury, but today their contribution to NAV is effectively invisible.
- Governance Implications
- Without a transparent NAV, Gnosis DAO cannot measure whether its treasury management and investment strategy are delivering positive returns.
This weakens accountability and leaves token holders unable to make informed decisions about capital allocation (e.g., whether to invest in new ventures or prioritize buybacks).
Proposal
Establish a Transparent NAV Framework for Gnosis DAO.
We propose to mandate the relevant Gnosis entities (Treasury Working Group, Gnosis Guild, or an independent auditor) to:
- Publish a Quarterly “NAV per GNO” Report, including:
- Circulating supply breakdown (DAO-held, vested, locked, and circulating).
- Mark-to-market valuation of liquid assets.
- Best-available valuation of venture investments, VC funds investments and strategic holdings, based on fund reports, last financing rounds, or conservative estimates.
- Define Reporting Standards
- Clear methodology for how NAV is calculated and what valuation sources are used.
- Consistent quarterly cadence.
- Create a Public Dashboard
- A simple, ongoing dashboard tracking GNO’s NAV evolution.
- Hosted under the official Gnosis Treasury or DAO resources.
This proposal does not request any change to treasury strategy or new spending direction. It only aims to make the DAO’s financial position transparent, auditable, and measurable.
Rationale
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Transparency builds trust. A clear NAV per GNO would give token holders and external observers a factual baseline to understand what the DAO is worth.
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Better capital allocation. Once NAV is known, the DAO can evaluate whether deploying capital into new projects or buybacks creates more value.
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Alignment with best practices. In traditional finance, NAV reporting is standard for investment entities and funds. DAOs aspiring to efficient capital management should hold themselves to the same standard.
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Market credibility. By publishing transparent, data-driven reporting, Gnosis DAO can strengthen its reputation as one of the most accountable and professionally managed treasuries in the industry.
Implementation
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Responsible Group: Gnosis Ltd as part of the annual budget for Finance or a Gnosis Treasury Working Group or an independent accounting partner.
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Timeline:
- Phase 1: Methodology definition (1 month)
- Phase 2: Initial NAV report publication (within 60 days)
- Phase 3: Quarterly updates thereafter.
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Funding: If needed, a budget of up to $50,000 for reporting setup, valuation modeling, or external audit support.
Long-Term Vision
Once transparency and reporting are established, Gnosis DAO will be in a position to consider capital optimization policies, such as buybacks when GNO trades materially below NAV, rigid evaluation of current investments and proposed investments, ensuring that treasury resources are used efficiently and aligned with token holder interests.