ZetaChain Holders Vote to Shut Down Native Layer 1, Migrate ZETA Token to Solana
ZetaChain token holders have overwhelmingly approved Proposal 68, a decision that will see the project sunset its self-built Layer 1 blockchain and migrate the ZETA token to Solana. This move marks a significant strategic pivot for the cross-chain interoperability project, which raised $27 million three years ago, now fully redirecting its focus to its AI application, Anuma.
Strategic Shift to AI Application
ZetaChain token holders voted on Sunday to close down the project’s native Layer 1 public blockchain and migrate the ZETA token to Solana. This decision comes from a project that, three years ago, raised $27 million with the mission of achieving “omnichain interoperability,” but will now cease maintaining its own underlying blockchain.
Governance Proposal 68 concluded on Sunday at 10:58 AM ET with 99.4% in favor, 0.3% against, and 0.3% abstaining. The participation rate stood at 58%, exceeding the required 40% quorum.
Rationale Behind the Decision
ZetaChain was built on the Cosmos SDK, a framework that necessitates project teams coordinating with dozens of independent validators for every upstream security announcement and patch. The team stated in the proposal that AI tools are making vulnerabilities easier to identify, citing a patch on August 25th of this year as an example, and anticipating more such instances in the future.
Last month, Cosmos Labs disclosed an attack on six Cosmos EVM chains. While ZetaChain was not directly affected, the attackers successfully stole and cashed out approximately $5.7 million. The vulnerability had been reported by researchers months prior, but testers had mistakenly assessed it as unexploitable on a live network.
For ZetaChain, the burden of maintaining a Cosmos SDK chain has become less advantageous than concentrating all resources on the application layer.
Anuma: The New Focus
The ZetaChain team launched its AI application, Anuma, in February of this year. The application claims to have over 300,000 users and has processed more than 1 million requests across 35 AI models. Anuma’s core differentiator lies in its cryptographic memory system, where user memories are self-owned and can flow across models, applications, and agents.
ZETA token holders can lock their tokens in exchange for AI service credits. The team stated in their announcement that the Solana AI toolchain currently lacks an “application layer” – a product that people use daily, where memories are self-owned and can move between different models.
Migration Details and Timeline
The current proposal does not set a date for the chain closure. The ZetaChain mainnet will continue to operate until a second round of governance proposals establishes the following details: the snapshot block height for balances, the chain closure block height, the token swap process, and guidelines for cross-chain asset withdrawals.
The ZETA token will become a native SPL token on Solana at a 1:1 ratio, with no changes to its ticker or total supply. Existing token release schedules will also remain unaffected. However, this plan does not cover ZETA deployed on Ethereum and BNB Chain.
The team emphasized that the second round of proposals will not be put to a vote until exchanges confirm the token swap mechanism, and no clear timeline has been provided. Current ZETA staking operations will continue normally, but the team is still evaluating how staking rewards will be handled on Solana.
Project Evolution and Market Reaction
ZetaChain completed a $27 million funding round in August 2023, with investors including Blockchain.com and Jane Street Capital. At the time, the vision was clear: developers could utilize assets from Bitcoin and Ethereum within the same application without bridges or wrapping. Cross-chain smart contracts became a reality after the mainnet launched in January 2024.
However, over the past three years, the project team has shifted its focus from “interoperability infrastructure” to “AI applications.” ZETA has seen a roughly 2.5% decrease in the past 24 hours, with the market reacting calmly to this change in direction.
ZetaChain’s decision reflects a broader trend observed in 2026: many projects are realizing that building their own L1 is not the only path forward, especially in AI application scenarios. Developers are seeking user traffic and mature ecosystem toolchains rather than maintaining a chain’s validator set and upgrade schedules.
Solana has been actively building its AI toolchain in recent years, attracting a large number of AI-native applications. By bringing ZETA into this ecosystem, ZetaChain is essentially betting the remaining token value and user base on the growth of Solana’s AI narrative. The risk lies in the possibility that if Anuma fails to establish a strong foothold in the competitive AI application layer, the project could lose both its underlying infrastructure and its application-level traction.
Another point of focus will be the details of the second round of proposals. The smooth migration of 300,000 Anuma users and ZETA token holders’ assets after the chain closure will directly determine whether this transition is perceived as a “strategic refocusing” or a “desperate measure.”
