Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)
In the early hours of August 11, the LayerZero Foundation, which is based on the cross-chain protocol, released a draft in the governance forum of the cross-chain bridge Stargate built on this protocol, proposing to acquire Stargate for a total price of $110 million.
Specifically, the LayerZero Foundation proposed to exchange all circulating STG (including STG in staking/voting status) for ZRO at a ratio of 1 STG : 0.08634 ZRO, at a price of $0.1675 per STG (slightly higher than the market price at the time) and $1.94 per ZRO.
After the acquisition is completed, Stargate will be more deeply integrated into the LayerZero ecosystem, the Stargate DAO will be dissolved, and all excess income generated by Stargate in the future will be used to reduce the circulating supply of ZRO through a buyback plan.
With the release of the acquisition proposal, the prices of ZRO and STG both received a boost. According to OKX market data, as of 15:00 Beijing time on August 11, ZRO was reported at 2.479 USDT, a 24-hour increase of 27.49%; STG was reported at 0.2002 USDT, a 24-hour increase of 21.3%.
LayerZero's Perspective: Consolidating Protocols and Products, Unifying Value Medium
From LayerZero's perspective, the idea of acquiring Stargate is not difficult to understand.
As a backend protocol and frontend product, LayerZero and Stargate are clearly deeply bound, to the extent that users generally do not view them as two independent projects. However, in reality, LayerZero and Stargate have long maintained a visible separation in operations, each having its own governance structure and token system — ZRO and STG serve as governance mediums and have more functional utilities in their respective projects.
Although in the early market narrative, the layered structure corresponding to the cross-chain protocol and bridging product helped ZRO distinguish itself from other cross-chain bridge project tokens, making ZRO appear to be "something of a higher level," this split model objectively has its flaws. For example, it brings more development and operational costs; independent governance systems inevitably lead to mismatches in direction and strategy; most importantly, a multi-token model inevitably leads to value dilution, thereby weakening token value — on this point, "single token is better than multi-token" has gradually become an industry consensus in recent years.
It is clear that LayerZero has recognized this issue. In the proposal regarding the acquisition of Stargate and related X dynamics, LayerZero mentioned a slogan-like phrase — "bring the bridge home."
LayerZero founder Bryan Pellegrino also stated: “Let’s bring the cross-chain bridge home. Within LayerZero, we make decisions every day — what products to develop? What partnerships to establish? How to integrate? Every day we struggle with small choices, should we do it ourselves? Or hand it over to Stargate? Who will be responsible for writing the code? All of this is a burden. Everything is too slow. We want to move faster and deliver faster…”
From Bryan's words, it is not difficult to see that from LayerZero's perspective, consolidating the originally independent cross-chain bridge product Stargate and unifying it with the protocol into a whole will effectively eliminate unnecessary development and operational friction, improve the development and delivery efficiency of both parties, and also unify ZRO and STG into a single value medium, enhancing ZRO's value capture ability — in the future, Stargate's excess income will be used to buy back ZRO.
This is also why the LayerZero team, including Bryan, is actively calling for support for this proposal.
Stargate's Perspective: Token at a Low Point, Community Opposition is Strong
However, from Stargate's perspective, the community's reaction to this acquisition proposal is not optimistic. Below LayerZero's acquisition proposal, many STG holders are actively expressing their opposition.
- Community member @ahmetgumustekin stated: “This offer is unappealing. It does not provide any benefits for STG holders, and the income-sharing mechanism of STG does not apply to ZRO. We should continue to hold our tokens… unless LayerZero raises the offer.”
- Community member @Vladtheinhaler stated: “The STG token has reached a high of $4 in past market cycles. Considering the actual income scale of the Stargate protocol and its development potential, the current offer is clearly a serious undervaluation. We suggest that the historical price levels of STG be referenced and that STG be converted to ZRO at a 1:1 exchange ratio.”
- Community member @Dan stated: “In my opinion, while it is possible to exchange tokens at the current market price of 1:1, there must be differentiated compensation for stakers, as their rights will be diluted, and stakers should receive additional premium compensation.”
- Community member @LLCgenerator stated: “As a long-term holder of STG and veSTG, I believe that the LayerZero Foundation's acquisition proposal has fundamental flaws and is grossly unfair. This proposal severely undervalues Stargate's asset value and development potential, effectively benefiting LayerZero at the expense of existing stakeholders. This proposal is essentially an expansion of LayerZero's power rather than true synergy, which may erode the trust foundation of decentralized governance. I urge token holders to vote against it on Snapshot and push for the following revised terms: a 1:1 ZRO exchange ratio, premium compensation based on lock-up duration, and a continuous income-sharing mechanism. Under these conditions, maintaining Stargate's independent development remains the better choice.”
From the statements of multiple community members, it can be seen that the opposition sentiment among STG holders mainly focuses on three aspects:
First, the offer is too low; STG is currently at a historical low, and the market is showing an upward trend, making it unreasonable to sell at the current price;
Second, due to the ve governance model of STG, staking and locking users have not received corresponding additional rewards;
Third, STG holders can share the fee income from the Stargate platform through staking, but currently LayerZero has not opened the fee switch, and STG has more value capture ability.
The Process Will Continue, but the Outlook is Not Optimistic
According to the procedural progress mentioned in the LayerZero Foundation's proposal, the proposal has now entered the discussion phase, and the Stargate community can freely discuss it in the governance forum, with seven days to raise questions.
After the discussion period ends, the proposal will be voted on Snapshot for three days, STG holders will vote for or against the LayerZero Foundation's acquisition proposal, requiring a quorum of 1.2 million veSTG, and a 70% approval rate for it to pass.
If the proposal is approved, STG holders will be notified on how to exchange for ZRO, and the LayerZero Foundation will take over and operate all responsibilities of Stargate, which will continue to operate normally, and users of the Stargate bridging protocol will not encounter any interruptions or functional changes during the transition period.
Considering that the final decision rests in the hands of STG holders, combined with the current strong opposition sentiment in the Stargate community, if the acquisition proposal itself is not further modified, its chances of passing are likely not optimistic. Based on this logical judgment, although both ZRO and STG surged after the proposal was released today, sustaining the upward momentum may not be so easy.
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