Gno.land - The First Logoverse, or Alternate Reality of Logical Objects

Tendermint changed the way blockchain developers think about blockchain consensus algorithms. Gno.land will change the way developers think about programming.

Gno.land represents a paradigm shift in multi-user programming that no other solution offers. It is not just a smart contract platform and blockchain; it is the world's first viable language-based multi-user operating system. Its ultimate goal is to host the world's knowledge base for the new millennium.

Why Gno.land?

Compare publishing a blog site in Gno.land to all prior smart contract systems.

 1// Realm: gno.land/r/me/myblog
 2
 3package gnoblog
 4
 5import (
 6	"std"
 7
 8	"gno.land/p/demo/blog"
 9)
10
11var b = &blog.Blog{
12	Title:  "gno.land's blog",
13	Prefix: "/r/gnoland/blog:",
14}
15
16func AddComment(postSlug, comment string) {
17    crossing()
18	assertIsCommenter()
19	assertNotInPause()
20
21	caller := std.OriginCaller()
22	err := b.GetPost(postSlug).AddComment(caller, comment)
23	checkErr(err)
24}
25
26func Render(path string) string {
27	return b.Render(path)
28}

You can see the Gno source code that rendered this webpage by clicking on "</>Source" on the top right of the webpage.

Q: Why is everything else so complicated?

A: Strangely difficult to answer, but ultimately because our languages, compilers, interpreters, and programming paradigms are still evolving.

Brief Evolution of Language

Written human language has only been around for a mere 6000 years, a blip in our evolutionary history. Like living species, our language and writing have evolved alongside us and within us. Adam was not the first Homo sapiens on earth, but he may have been the first with written language, and thereby a new kind of man.

Programming languages likewise have been evolving rapidly, but only for a handful of decades; it was in the 1970s when Alan Kay developed Smalltalk, the first object-oriented programming language. In the 1990’s Brendan Eich of Netscape invented JavaScript which forever transformed the World Wide Web; Sun Microsystem made Java, and industries prospered greatly by these and similar language technologies.

Gno vs Previous

Our languages, compilers & interpreters, and programs are today:

  • Nondeterministic - randomness is the norm in concurrent programming, but even Go randomizes map iteration.
  • Disk Bound - programs need to be designed to save to disk —> SQL solutions; NOT native language
  • Dependent - running programs are owned by an owner; dependent on individuals, not self-sustaining
  • Ephemeral - running programs are expected to fail; no guarantee of presence.
  • Single User Realm - import of internal libraries are native, but interactions with external programs are NOT native; generally no import “gno.land/r/external/realm”, but leaky abstractions synthesized ie GRPC

Gno, GnoVM, and Gno.land is in contrast:

  • Deterministic - gno routines not yet supported, but even these will be deterministic.
  • Auto Persistent - all changes to instantiated Gno objects in the transaction are persisted transparently.
  • Self-Sustaining - every transaction locks $GNOT up for new storage allocated; CPU gas fees paid in any language.
  • Timeless - every Gno object that is referenced (not GC’d) remains forever.
  • Multi User Realm - all objects are stored in realm packages (namespaces).

Gno Language Innovation

All modern popular programming languages are designed for a single programmer user. Programming languages support the importing of program libraries natively for components of the single user's program, but this does not hold true for interacting with components of another user's (other) program. Gno is an extension of the Go language for multi-user programming. Gno allows a massive number of programmers to iteratively and interactively develop a single shared program such as Gno.land.

The added dimension of the program domain means the language should be extended to best express the complexities of programming in the inter-realm (inter-user) domain. In other words, Go is a restricted subset of the Gno language in the single-user context. (In this analogy client requests for Go web servers don't count as they run outside the server program).

Gno is Go plus:

  • cross(fn)(…)↗ calls fn(…) where fn is another realm.
  • std.CurrentRealm() and std.PreviousRealm() changes upon cross-calls.
  • func fn() { crossing(); … } signifies that fn is a crossing-function where std.CurrentRealm() returns the realm in which the function is declared. Gno2 proposed syntax↗: @fn(…), @func @fn() { … }. These are like verb (function) modifiers in honorifics in Korean and Japanese↗
  • While all data is readable by other realms, dot.selector access across realms get tainted with 'readonly' attribute↗.
  • revive(fn)↗ for Software Transactional Memory (STM).
  • Function/method return implies access without readonly taint.
  • Inter-realm type conversion limitations to prevent exploits.
  • More and refinements to come in Gno2.

These language innovations/extensions allow for safer multi-user application development where many users are collaboratively programming a single timeless (immortal) communal program.

The Logoverse

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

Logos means “word, discourse; reason”, and shares its root with the word “logic”.

With these elements altogether you can derive a new property:

  • Gno expressions become "real" on Gno.land.
  • Ethereum comes close but isn't object-oriented and Solidity has no pronouns.
  • TBL's WWW, DOM model, HTTP verbs, Plan 9, Ethereum, and FB Meta are all attempts to arrive at the logoverse.
  • Gno.land is the first complete logoverse.

Adoption Strategy

There are over a million Go developers and growing. Go as a language remains a popular language for developers, an order of magnitude more than Rust developers, on par with JavaScript developers but growing faster than JavaScript.

TIOBE 2025↗ GitHut2 2024↗

Gno.land and its associated network of Gno VM chains, and AtomOne if it hosts it, will become the nexus of human to human, human to machine, and machine to machine coordination; but only after it finds a self-sustaining organic growth cycle.

The best way to ensure success and to accelerate adoption is to seed the initial community with the right community. There are many types of communities, such as the crypto community, ethereum community, student community, but since Bitcoin has gone mainstream, these communities aren't always in agreement about the purpose of blockchain technology; because they aren't aware of the history and fabric of the hidden power structures that run the narrative--both mainstream AND controlled oppositions. They do not feel that they need something, so their habits are not as obvious to change.

But the "free-thinking" and "conspiracy" and "anti-war" and "anti-Covid19-vax" and even the "true Christian" communities feel an urgent need for censorship-proof coordination and communication tools. These communities have influencers who are kept hidden from the broader public; they have suffered deplatforming, defamation, and even death.

Build tools, connections, and relations with these particular communities and especially those influencers who are nuanced in their research and speech. Even those that don't promote crypto will see the benefits uniquely offered by Gno.land.

Gno.land License

Anyone can make Gno VM powered chains derived from Gno.land according to the viral copyleft license terms and strong attribution requirement. The Strong Attribution clause of the Gno Network GPL license preserves the spirit of the GNU AGPL license for the blockchain world.

Tokenomics

$GNOT is the storage lock-up utility token, so Gno.land is to Gno England like $GNOT is to presence in Gno England, where total storage is kept finite for very-long-term existential purposes, and value is derived from the Gno artifacts created by its users, and some new users competing for attention from many existing users.

Gno.land may migrate to AtomOne ICS once it is support hard-fork upgrades. There Gno.land would be one ICS shard, and many Gno VM shards may also exist, each with their own namespace and probably each their own storage token unless separate treaties are made between the main Gno.land chain (ICS shard) and other Gno VM shards. Transaction fees for CPU usage may be paid in either $GNOT or $PHOTON.

Team

New Tendermint, LLC

NewTendermint, LLC is the core maintainer of the GnoVM, Tendermint2, and at present Gno.land.

GnoVM & Gno.land Core Team

  • Jae Kwon before and after creating Tendermint and Cosmos always had a passion for programming languages and wrote multiple parsers and interpreters, and initially also wrote an EVM on top of the framework which became the Cosmos SDK. Gno.land is the result of two decades of search for the logoverse.

  • Manfred Touron, builder focused on open-source and resilient technologies; co-founded scaleway (cloud) and berty (p2p messaging), with contributions to 900+ open-source projects.

  • Miloš Živković - Senior distributed systems engineer; passion for solving protocol-level problems in the blockchain space.

  • Morgan Bazalgette - Senior Go engineer; bringing the joy of developing Go to Gno.

  • Ray Qin - With over 15 years of experience in software development and building large-scale networks, I have a deep passion for Go programming language and blockchain technology.

  • Marc Vertes - Senior VM and hardware developer; more than 3 decades of experience, Co-founder of 3 companies (1 acquired by IBM), author of 34 patents, author of the Yaegi Go interpreter.

  • Alexis Colin - Senior Frontend Engineer with 10+ years of experience building user-focused interfaces and exploring modern tech stacks. Driven to push forward efficient UX in the blockchain space through clean code and technical precision. Currently working on gnoweb.

Gno Studio Team

  • Ìlker Öztürk - Senior software architect; 17 years in building and designing products, distributed p2p systems, leadership and strategic vision.

  • Jerónimo Albi - Experienced full-stack systems engineer with attention on simplicity and minimalism, focused on Blockchain and Golang development

  • Salvatore Mazzarino - Site Reliability Engineer with over 10 years of experience in building and mantaining high and scalable distribute systems across different range of platforms. "If it is not monitored, it does not exist"

  • Danny Salman - Vast experience in blockchain developer relations, technical writing and education, and product, with a background in full-stack development, engineering, and policy.

  • Alan Soares - A Brazilian lost in middle earth. Passionate coder with love for open-source and software craftsmanship. Taking the web forward for over 16 years.

  • Lucio Caetano - Senior Frontend Engineer with 10+ years of experience building web applications, specializing in web3 and blockchain technologies. With a background in data analysis, providing data-driven decisions and reporting with large datasets.

All in Bits, Inc

Members of All in Bits, Inc also build applications and community on top of Gno.land.

  • Kristov Atlas - Since 2012, I’ve been a crypto security engineer and researcher focusing on non-custodial wallets, CeFi exchanges, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Cosmos ecosystem.

  • Michelle Leech - Experienced marketing and ecosystem builder skilled at creating and driving strategic initiatives that foster relationship building and boost developer advocacy, engagement, education, and product utilization.

  • Lav Leon Hudak - DevRel Engineer with a strong background in blockchain development, documentation, and education.

  • Sean Casey - CFO (Chief Financial Gnome) - 10+ years’ experience in finance, aircraft leasing, and blockchain. Leads financial strategy, and treasury operations, ensuring capital discipline, regulatory compliance, and long-term value creation.

  • Jordan Magazine - Experienced General Counsel with over a decade of practice, specializing in designing frameworks that enable blockchain ecosystems to operate with clarity and compliance, empowering projects to scale confidently and with integrity.

  • Carolyn Pehrson - Paralegal keeping AIB,Inc and NT,LLC alive. Thinks you should get a pet mini pig.

Tags: #gnoland

Written by jaekwon on 05 May 2025

Published by g125em6arxsnj49vx35f0n0z34putv5ty3376fg5 to gno.land's blog