ZetaChain Proposes to Shut Down Its Blockchain and Move ZETA to Solana

ZetaChain has proposed to discontinue its own Layer 1 blockchain and migrate the native token ZETA to the Solana network. Voting on the migration terms opened on November 4, 2026, and will conclude on November 7 at 16:12 UTC. If participants approve the proposal, the network shutdown and transition are expected around December 9.

This is the second stage of decision-making. In September, 99.44% of votes in the previous voting favored the move to Solana. Now ZETA holders need to approve the specific mechanism for token exchange, validator shutdown, and user asset protection.

According to the proposal, a snapshot of balances will be created at block height 20,755,000, expected around December 9. After this, ZetaChain Layer 1 will permanently cease block production.

In the Solana network, the project fund will issue ZETA in the SPL standard. Conversion will occur at a 1:1 ratio, retaining the previous ticker. Thus, holders will receive an equivalent amount of ZETA in the new network, not the cryptocurrency SOL.

After issuing the necessary amount of tokens, the fund will revoke the right to additional issuance. The new ZETA will have nine decimal places, and the possibility of centralized token freezing will not be provided.

How the migration will proceed for ZETA holders

Users with a balance of at least 10 native ZETA will be able to receive new tokens through the official ZetaHub portal, which is planned to open on December 9. This will require connecting the previous wallet and signing a message with the receiving address in the Solana network.

The procedure does not involve a fee for receiving tokens and does not require SOL. However, individual requests for addresses with a balance of less than 10 ZETA are not provided.

Tokens staked or in the process of withdrawal will be automatically accounted for when creating the balance snapshot. ZETA holders on centralized exchanges should follow the conversion procedures and timelines announced by the respective platforms.

Users who have placed tokens in liquidity pools or wrapped contracts are advised by the team to withdraw them before the snapshot is created. Existing ZETA in the ERC-20 standard on Ethereum is not affected by the proposal.

The security audit of the migration portal is being conducted by Hacken. The service should only open after the audit is completed and its results are published. Developers have specifically warned that receiving tokens will not require revealing the wallet recovery phrase.

ZetaChain plans token burning and ZetaLabs launch

After the shutdown of validators, the project intends to reduce the maximum supply of ZETA. To achieve this, approximately 55 million tokens, previously allocated for undistributed validator rewards, are planned to be burned throughout 2027.

The burning will be divided into 12 monthly operations of approximately 4.6 million ZETA each. The final amount will depend on the rewards distributed before the network shutdown.

Simultaneously, ZetaChain plans to launch ZetaLabs, an application with artificial intelligence features for financial market research. It will integrate several AI models, current market data, and encrypted user history.

Among the announced features are Chat for market analysis, Radar for activity tracking, and Bloom for blockchain transaction history management. Services are expected to be paid for using ZETA, USDC, or bank cards.

In the first quarter of 2027, the project plans to add premium features, access to which can be obtained by locking ZETA.

If the proposal does not pass the vote, the previously made decision on the migration direction will remain, but developers will need to present a new implementation plan.