ZetaChain Shocker: Holders Vote to Dismantle L1, Spark Major Move to Solana — What’s Next for ZETA?

Imagine deciding to pack up your whole neighborhood and move it to a flashier, faster city—sounds like a massive headache, right? Well, ZetaChain tokenholders just gave a whopping 99.4% nod to do exactly that, choosing to retire their layer-1 blockchain and shift their native ZETA token over to Solana. But here’s the kicker: this isn’t some snap decision that flips the off switch immediately. It’s a carefully choreographed dance, with validators keeping the lights on and staking rewards rolling through the transition. Why the move? ZetaChain’s creators realized that maintaining their own Cosmos SDK-based blockchain was like trying to run a marathon with a backpack full of bricks, especially when their true passion lies in Anuma, a private AI project with some serious potential. In a twist that echoes a broader trend—think BounceBit and Harmony—this migration highlights a fascinating pivot in crypto’s shifting landscape: sometimes, shutting down your own chain isn’t a defeat; it’s doubling down on innovation. Ready to dive deeper? LEARN MORE.

ZetaChain tokenholders have approved a plan to wind down the project’s layer-1 blockchain and migrate its native ZETA token to Solana. 

Governance proposal 68 passed Sunday with 99.4% support and 58% participation, exceeding the network’s 40% quorum requirement. Under the proposal, ZETA will become an SPL token on Solana through a 1:1 conversion, with the same ticker and total supply. 

According to the proposal, the vote does not immediately trigger ZetaChain’s shutdown or migration. Core contributors will submit a second proposal detailing the withdrawal window for assets linked to other blockchains, snapshot block height, shutdown timetable, token claim process and exchange conversion period. Validators will continue operating and staking rewards will continue during the transition.

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 said moving to Solana would allow it to redirect resources from blockchain maintenance to Anuma and its Private Memory Layer, which lets users carry encrypted context across AI models.

ZetaChain was founded in 2021 as an interoperability-focused project designed to connect assets and data across different blockchains. In 2023, it raised $27 million from investors including Blockchain.com, Jane Street Capital, Human Capital and Sky9 Capital to develop its layer-1 network.

Crypto projects wind down standalone chains 

Other projects, including BounceBit and Harmony, have also announced plans to shut down their standalone blockchains.

In August, BounceBit opted to retire its standalone blockchain after an authorization flaw was exploited to steal about $3 million in BB tokens. The project migrated its token to BNB Smart Chain at a 1:1 ratio instead of restarting its layer 1. 

On Sept. 6, Harmony proposed shutting down its layer-1 and migrating its native ONE token to Ethereum as an ERC-20, as part of a proposed pivot to an AI video initiative. The proposal came weeks after an exploit created unauthorized ONE tokens and led Harmony to plan a rollback of more than 109,000 transactions. 

Related: Solana sees record 263K tokens issued in a single day

ZetaChain also suffered a $334,000 exploit in April targeting its cross-chain gateway contract, which drained funds from ZetaChain-controlled wallets across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base and BNB Smart Chain. 

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.

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