ZetaChain holders vote to shut down L1, migrate ZETA to Solana
In brief
- ZetaChain governance proposal 68 passed with 99.4% support and 58% participation, exceeding 40% quorum.
- ZETA migrates to Solana as SPL token via 1:1 conversion, maintaining ticker and total supply.
- Core contributors will submit implementation proposal; validators and staking rewards continue during transition.
- Project pivots to Anuma, a private-focused AI application no longer requiring standalone L1.
Governance vote and migration details
Governance proposal 68 passed Sunday with 99.4% support and 58% participation, exceeding the network's 40% quorum requirement. ZETA will become an SPL token on Solana through a 1:1 conversion, maintaining the same ticker and total supply.
The approval does not immediately trigger the shutdown or migration. Core contributors will submit a second proposal detailing implementation specifics. Validators will continue operating and staking rewards will continue during the transition, providing a bridge period for the community.
Strategic refocus on AI
"ZetaChain said running its own Cosmos SDK-based layer 1 no longer supports its focus on Anuma, its private-focused artificial intelligence application."
The project was founded in 2021 as an interoperability-focused blockchain designed to connect assets and data across different blockchains. That mission no longer aligns with current priorities. In 2023, ZetaChain raised $27 million from investors including Blockchain.com, Jane Street Capital, Human Capital and Sky9 Capital, positioning itself as an infrastructure play.
Redirecting resources from blockchain maintenance to Anuma and its Private Memory Layer—which enables encrypted context to travel across AI models—represents a fundamental shift in strategy. Running a standalone chain requires ongoing security audits, validator coordination, and protocol upgrades. Solana's established infrastructure eliminates those operational burdens.
A pattern emerges
ZetaChain's decision joins other projects abandoning standalone chains. In August, BounceBit retired its blockchain after an authorization flaw enabled attackers to steal roughly $3 million in BB tokens. The project migrated its token to BNB Smart Chain at a 1:1 ratio instead of attempting to restart its layer 1.
On September 6, Harmony proposed shutting down its layer-1 and migrating its native ONE token to Ethereum as an ERC-20. That proposal came weeks after an exploit created unauthorized ONE tokens and forced Harmony to plan a rollback of more than 109,000 transactions.
ZetaChain itself suffered a $334,000 exploit in April targeting its cross-chain gateway contract. The project later acknowledged that it had dismissed an earlier bug bounty report about the vulnerability as intended behavior, prompting a review of its security processes. These incidents highlight the operational and reputational costs of maintaining a standalone blockchain—especially for teams with limited resources.
