Latest news with #Gnosis
Forbes
23-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Friederike Ernst: Using The Internet To Empower People And Communities
Friederike Ernst is an Ivy League physicist, co-founder of Web3 company Gnosis, and a mother of four ... More children under 10. At the age of 12, Friederike Ernst's father handed her a copy of theoretical physicist Simon Singh's The Code Book, sparking a lifelong interest in cryptography. The gift was prescient; Friederike went on to study physics to post-doctoral level at Stanford and Colombia, before transitioning to the world of tech. 'I have always loved building things. I could have been a very happy carpenter,' says Friederike. 'I enjoy being in a place where I can shape things, and the next iteration of the internet, known as 'Web3' or the decentralised web, is one of the areas where we can create a better society for all.' Through our conversation, one theme came through consistently - an engrained distrust of authority and the idea of empowering people with agency. That is the fundamental value that underscores her mission-driven work in the tech space - creating the infrastructure that gives power and autonomy back to people, rather than to huge corporations. 'Labels really don't matter' - the changing face of tech for women The businesswoman in glasses standing near the display At 22, she was the only woman in her class, but she says it's rare to be the sole woman these days: 'We've made tremendous progress. We don't need to get to 50:50 representation in every field - it's true that generally speaking men and women have different interests - but a certain level of diversity is important'. She adds that as the only woman, there is a burden to prove yourself not just on your own behalf, but as a representative of women everywhere. Today, Friederike is a mother of four children aged between one and nine years old, and she challenges the idea that tech is a hostile space for women. 'In the beginning, they can underestimate you, but I feel really appreciated for my contributions. Some say it's not a good place for mothers but I haven't found that to be the case. If you're smart, driven, and making a contribution, labels really don't matter.' Power (and profit) to the people Growing up in Germany, Friederike's values are shaped by counter-cultural cypherpunk ideologies grounded in resisting authority and unchecked capitalism: 'I'm a firm believer in agency, just give people the right tools and they can achieve what they want to.' That's what appeals to her about working in Web3, where decentralisation, privacy, and user ownership are prioritised. At Gnosis, she works on developing the infrastructure needed to make that happen across a diverse range of applications and sectors. She describes Web3 as a do-over of the early internet that allows for shared agency. 'The internet was initially used for a lot of peer-to-peer interactions. Over the last 30 years, a lot of that power has been centralised to accrue value and power to the same 10 companies. Google probably has access to your search history, correspondence, and location - that's an incredible amount of information - and then they target you with related ads.' What if we could have similar services without compromising on privacy? Why should we accept that this is the quid pro quo for access to online tools and services? Reimagining finance for everyone Concept of decentralized internet. Wide banner. WEB 3 technology concept. WEB 3.0 3d rendering.. Friederike explains that the principle of shared ownership, where communities, not corporations, hold the value they help create, can be applied to money and finance. At its foundation, Web3 is a neutral technology that could be steered in vastly different directions. 'Web3 is a base technology; an infrastructure. It can be used to create a utopia, but it can also be used to build an extremely effective surveillance state,' one advocate said. 'We need to ensure that doesn't happen, and that privacy is normalised again.' This is where Gnosis, the company she co-founded, comes in. Gnosis is building the digital tools and systems needed to make financial services more accessible, fair, and decentralised. The idea is simple: instead of profits going to a handful of big banks, tech companies, and intermediaries, the benefits should flow back to the users who actually create the value. 'We're building the foundations for a more open, equitable internet — but there's still a long way to go,' she says. 'In an open financial system, everyone should have equal access to opportunities, no matter where they live. Right now, it's incredibly difficult for people in some countries to hold foreign currencies or invest in global markets. But that kind of access is essential if we want a fairer world.' Traditionally, banks have held a lot of power. But today, new technologies make it possible to replace that middleman. Thanks to blockchain, a secure, shared digital ledger, money can now move directly between people without needing a central authority to oversee it. Friederike said: 'Bitcoin was the first example of this. It started as a form of digital cash that people could send to each other without going through a bank. Over time, it evolved into what many now consider 'digital gold' because there's a limited supply — which helps protect its value over time.' The bigger shift, she believes, will come from creating new money that is no longer dependent on central banks. At Gnosis, she helped to create and launch a trust-based cryptocurrency called Circles, where users create and issue their own coins so that they can use them to barter with other trusted people in their community. As the community using Circles grows, so too does its power as a currency. Agency and autonomy are the values that drive Web3 Asked who she looks up to in terms of values, Friederike is reluctant to name specific role models, but said: 'I look up to people who can withstand the pressure or temptation to make money quickly.' In a space dominated by tech giants constantly looking for new ways to monetise and digital currencies creating hype without benefits, the focus on value creation rather than value extraction is certainly refreshing.
Finextra
17-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Noah and Gnosis team on global stablecoin infrastructure
Noah, a regulated global payments infrastructure provider, and Gnosis, a leader in decentralized financial systems, today announced a strategic partnership to power the next chapter of stablecoin adoption through seamless integration of real-world financial infrastructure with onchain tools. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. This collaboration introduces regulated virtual USD accounts for users in the United States and abroad, along with real-time stablecoin-to-fiat conversion, free on/off-ramps, and cross-border payment functionality across 70+ countries. By combining Noah's compliant infrastructure with Gnosis's user-centric onchain ecosystem, the partnership makes everyday financial tools like payroll, remittances, and B2B payments available through decentralized finance applications. The integration brings U.S. market access to the Gnosis ecosystem, which already serves a growing network of users, wallets, and merchants across Europe. By embedding compliant stablecoin infrastructure, the collaboration allows these users to transact in USD and stablecoins with full regulatory confidence. For users in emerging markets, it unlocks new access to U.S. dollar-denominated accounts and seamless payments to and from the U.S.—making it easier to earn, save, and do business globally without relying on traditional intermediaries. 'Our goal has always been to make stablecoins practical, secure, and easy to use,' said Shah Ramezani, CEO and Founder of Noah. 'Partnering with Gnosis helps bridge the gap between traditional finance and open, programmable payments, without compromising user control.' Gnosis ecosystem apps and partners such as Picnic, Zeal, Safe, and Gnosis HQ will be among the first to integrate Noah's infrastructure in the U.S. These collaborations significantly widen access for both end users and businesses, who will now be able to onboard funds, hold stablecoins, and move money globally—all within a trusted, regulated framework. 'For decentralized finance to succeed, its benefits must reach people in their daily lives—across borders, systems, and currencies,' said Stefan George, Co-Founder of Gnosis. 'By integrating with Noah, Gnosis closes the gap between the Web3 values of ownership and transparency, and the real-world need for financial services that simply work. Noah's programmable API enables real-time settlement of funds across more than 50 currencies, allowing applications to embed global payments functionality without the cost or complexity of traditional systems. The company recently raised a $22 million seed funding round to scale its operations and accelerate the infrastructure needed for a stablecoin-powered global economy. It is licensed across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Thijn Lamers, Co-Founder and President of Noah and a founding team member and former EVP global sales of global fintech platform Adyen, emphasized the potential for widespread impact: 'Together with Gnosis, we're demonstrating how fully compliant infrastructure can unlock the power of stablecoins for millions of people. Whether it's a merchant in the U.S., a freelancer in Latin America, or a saver in Sub-Saharan Africa, access to reliable, transparent financial rails is transformative.' Gnosis continues to build toward a future of open and fair finance, anchored by Gnosis Chain and tools like Gnosis Pay—the first decentralized payment network—and the Metri Wallet. Through its ecosystem and partnerships, it is turning user-owned financial systems into a global reality.
Business Insider
17-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Noah and Gnosis Partner to Deliver Global Stablecoin Payments Infrastructure
London, UK, July 17th, 2025, Chainwire The strategic collaboration enables USD virtual accounts for users and businesses, and compliant on/off-ramps, bringing user-owned finance to real-world use cases. Noah, a regulated global payments infrastructure provider, and Gnosis, a leader in decentralized financial systems, today announced a strategic partnership to power the next chapter of stablecoin adoption through seamless integration of real-world financial infrastructure with onchain tools. This collaboration introduces regulated USD virtual accounts for users in the United States and abroad, along with real-time stablecoin-to-fiat conversion, free on/off-ramps, and cross-border payment functionality across 70+ countries. By combining Noah's compliant infrastructure with Gnosis's user-centric onchain ecosystem, the partnership makes everyday financial tools like payroll, remittances, and B2B payments available through decentralized finance applications. The integration brings U.S. market access to the Gnosis ecosystem, which already serves a growing network of users, wallets, and merchants across Europe. By embedding compliant stablecoin infrastructure, the collaboration allows these users to transact in USD and stablecoins with full regulatory confidence. For users in emerging markets, it unlocks new access to U.S. dollar-denominated accounts and seamless payments to and from the U.S.—making it easier to earn, save, and do business globally without relying on traditional intermediaries. 'Our goal has always been to make stablecoins practical, secure, and easy to use,' said Shah Ramezani, CEO and Founder of Noah. 'Partnering with Gnosis helps bridge the gap between traditional finance and open, programmable payments, without compromising user control.' Gnosis ecosystem apps and partners such as Picnic, Zeal, Safe, and Gnosis HQ will be among the first to integrate Noah's infrastructure in the U.S. These collaborations significantly widen access for both end users and businesses, who will now be able to onboard funds, hold stablecoins, and move money globally—all within a trusted, regulated framework. 'For decentralized finance to succeed, its benefits must reach people in their daily lives—across borders, systems, and currencies,' said Stefan George, Co-Founder of Gnosis. 'By integrating with Noah, Gnosis closes the gap between the Web3 values of ownership and transparency, and the real-world need for financial services that simply work.' Noah's programmable API enables real-time settlement of funds across more than 50 currencies, allowing applications to embed global payments functionality without the cost or complexity of traditional systems. The company recently raised a $22 million seed funding round to scale its operations and accelerate the infrastructure needed for a stablecoin-powered global economy. It is licensed across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Thijn Lamers, Co-Founder and President of Noah and former EVP global sales of fintech platform Adyen, emphasized the potential for widespread impact: 'Together with Gnosis, we're demonstrating how fully compliant infrastructure can unlock the power of stablecoins for millions of people. Whether it's a merchant in the U.S., a freelancer in Latin America, or a saver in Sub-Saharan Africa, access to reliable, transparent financial rails is transformative.' Gnosis continues to build toward a future of open and fair finance, anchored by Gnosis Chain and tools like Gnosis Pay—the first decentralized payment network—and the Metri Wallet. Through its ecosystem and partnerships, it is turning user-owned financial systems into a global reality. About Gnosis Gnosis is advancing user-owned, transparent financial systems through a network of decentralized tools built on Gnosis Chain—an Ethereum-compatible blockchain with low fees and high resilience. From payments to wallets to financial infrastructure, Gnosis ecosystem projects are reimagining what it means to give people real ownership in a borderless financial world. Website | X (Twitter) | Discord | Blog About Noah Noah is building the modern payment infrastructure for stablecoin-powered finance. Through its regulated API platform, Noah enables instant money movement across borders, currencies, and platforms—making stablecoin on/off-ramps, FX, and virtual accounts accessible to businesses and users around the world. The company holds regulatory licenses and registrations across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Website | X (Twitter) | Linkedin | Blog Contact Chief of Staff Caroline Power
Business Wire
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Gnosis Launches Circles 2.0: A Trust-Based Digital Currency Where Users Issue Their Own Tokens Over Time
BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Gnosis, the architects of open applications and infrastructure for the new economy, today announced the launch of Circles 2.0, a radically new kind of personalised currency that anyone can create and use without needing a bank or government. Instead of relying on a centralised institution to print and set the value of money, each person issues their own Circles currency, which they can send and receive from people they trust. Circles 2.0 is delivered by the newly launched Metri app, the consumer-friendly, self-custodial wallet operating within the Gnosis ecosystem. In a global economy that is ever more uncertain, Circles offers users the ability to take control of their wealth and create vibrant local economies based on trust, community and fairness. Circles' predictable and equitable money supply protocol builds on the Gnosis vision of a decentralized payment infrastructure to create a new global currency that empowers users and is designed to avoid the systemic advantage often seen in early token distribution models—creating a fairer starting point for all participants. Martin Köppelmann, Co-Founder of Gnosis said, 'The goal of Circles is to introduce a complementary money system that doesn't put any participant or institution at an undue and systematic advantage over another while remaining attractive as a means of exchange and storage of value. We believe that by coupling the momentum of financial technology, together with products that propel OpenFi such as Gnosis Pay and CoW swap, we can provide enough immediate utility to solve the issues faced by new money systems and facilitate the next evolution in a completely decentralized financial system.' An Equitable Currency For Trusted Exchange In terms of token issuance, every account holder will mint 1 CRC per hour or 24 per day for as long as they maintain minimum activity levels on the platform. Each user's CRC is a unique token. Real-life trust—whether with friends, family or community members—is replicated through trusted connections within the system. When a user trusts someone else, they agree to accept their unique CRC. If the user doesn't know someone directly, but they have trusted connections in common, they can still send CRC to the third user by leveraging common connections as intermediaries, creating an active web–or circle–of trust. CRC can also be earned by inviting new users, by creating trusted connections, or by being bought in exchange for bridged stablecoins such USDCe, GBPe, and EURe. As a sign of early demand and expectation, there are 100,000 users on the waitlist for Circles, which has a value initially anticipated to fluctuate between $0.01 and $0.05. Users can also back their Circles with assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum or sDAI to establish price and make their Circles tradeable. Users will be able to spend the Circles they have created for real-life goods and services via Circles Marketplace, where trusted vendors will be accepting CRC, which is expected to go live some weeks after the launch. Key features of Circles 2.0: Every account holder has the right to mint their own individual Circles (CRC) at a rate of 1 CRC per hour. All CRC balances are reduced in nominal value at a rate of 7% per year to encourage spending and discourage hoarding. Groups can now be created and joined based on shared factors including but not limited to location, interests, events and enterprise affiliation. CRC is designed to be used as a form of currency between trusted connections, as opposed to a digital asset that is accrued or speculated upon. The launch of Circles 2.0 seeks to provide an equitable solution to the concerns about centralised control of money issuance and build on the innovation of cryptocurrency while avoiding the problem of undue and systemic advantage where early adopters benefit most. The use of Metri makes it easy for anyone to enter the world of decentralized money, with a focus on personal currencies, stablecoins and accessibility, and to spend their assets using a debit card. Metri is a user-friendly platform that integrates with cutting-edge OpenFi solutions, including the Circles Protocol, Gnosis Pay, and CoW Swap, and offers a comprehensive suite of tools for users.
Associated Press
21-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Gnosis Launches Circles 2.0: A Trust-Based Digital Currency Where Users Issue Their Own Tokens Over Time
BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2025-- Gnosis, the architects of open applications and infrastructure for the new economy, today announced the launch of Circles 2.0, a radically new kind of personalised currency that anyone can create and use without needing a bank or government. Instead of relying on a centralised institution to print and set the value of money, each person issues their own Circles currency, which they can send and receive from people they trust. Circles 2.0 is delivered by the newly launched Metri app, the consumer-friendly, self-custodial wallet operating within the Gnosis ecosystem. In a global economy that is ever more uncertain, Circles offers users the ability to take control of their wealth and create vibrant local economies based on trust, community and fairness. Circles' predictable and equitable money supply protocol builds on the Gnosis vision of a decentralized payment infrastructure to create a new global currency that empowers users and is designed to avoid the systemic advantage often seen in early token distribution models—creating a fairer starting point for all participants. Martin Köppelmann, Co-Founder of Gnosis said, 'The goal of Circles is to introduce a complementary money system that doesn't put any participant or institution at an undue and systematic advantage over another while remaining attractive as a means of exchange and storage of value. We believe that by coupling the momentum of financial technology, together with products that propel OpenFi such as Gnosis Pay and CoW swap, we can provide enough immediate utility to solve the issues faced by new money systems and facilitate the next evolution in a completely decentralized financial system.' An Equitable Currency For Trusted Exchange In terms of token issuance, every account holder will mint 1 CRC per hour or 24 per day for as long as they maintain minimum activity levels on the platform. Each user's CRC is a unique token. Real-life trust—whether with friends, family or community members—is replicated through trusted connections within the system. When a user trusts someone else, they agree to accept their unique CRC. If the user doesn't know someone directly, but they have trusted connections in common, they can still send CRC to the third user by leveraging common connections as intermediaries, creating an active web–or circle–of trust. CRC can also be earned by inviting new users, by creating trusted connections, or by being bought in exchange for bridged stablecoins such USDCe, GBPe, and EURe. As a sign of early demand and expectation, there are 100,000 users on the waitlist for Circles, which has a value initially anticipated to fluctuate between $0.01 and $0.05. Users can also back their Circles with assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum or sDAI to establish price and make their Circles tradeable. Users will be able to spend the Circles they have created for real-life goods and services via Circles Marketplace, where trusted vendors will be accepting CRC, which is expected to go live some weeks after the launch. Key features of Circles 2.0: The launch of Circles 2.0 seeks to provide an equitable solution to the concerns about centralised control of money issuance and build on the innovation of cryptocurrency while avoiding the problem of undue and systemic advantage where early adopters benefit most. The use of Metri makes it easy for anyone to enter the world of decentralized money, with a focus on personal currencies, stablecoins and accessibility, and to spend their assets using a debit card. Metri is a user-friendly platform that integrates with cutting-edge OpenFi solutions, including the Circles Protocol, Gnosis Pay, and CoW Swap, and offers a comprehensive suite of tools for users. Website | X (Twitter) | Discord | Blog View source version on CONTACT: Media Enquiries [email protected] KEYWORD: GERMANY EUROPE INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES APPS/APPLICATIONS TECHNOLOGY BLOCKCHAIN CRYPTOCURRENCY FINTECH SOURCE: Gnosis Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/21/2025 09:51 AM/DISC: 05/21/2025 09:51 AM
