ZetaChain vote sets terms for Solana move and Layer 1 shutdown

Governance Proposal 2, announced November 4, sets out the conversion process, holder protections and shutdown plan. A September vote had already backed the direction of the move, with 99.4% of participating votes in favor, but left implementation details undecided. “Nothing moves until it passes,” the ZetaChain team said.

If approved, balances will be recorded at block 20,755,000, expected around December 9. The snapshot covers liquid and staked tokens, unbonding balances and unclaimed staking rewards. ZetaChain would then stop producing blocks, while the Foundation would mint an equal amount of native ZETA on Solana as an SPL token at a 1:1 ratio. The new token would have nine decimal places and no freeze authority; the Foundation would revoke its minting authority after minting. ZETA already issued on Ethereum as an ERC-20 would be unaffected.

Eligible holders can claim through ZetaHub from December 9 by connecting the wallet holding their tokens and signing a message naming a receiving Solana wallet. Claims carry no transaction fee, but individual claims require at least 10 ZETA at the snapshot. Exchanges will set their own conversion schedules. Staked and unbonding tokens will be recorded automatically, while holders are advised to remove ZETA from liquidity pools and wrapped-token contracts before the snapshot. ZRC-20 assets on ZetaChain can be claimed on their original networks if each is worth at least $5. Security firm Hacken is reviewing the portal; it will open after the review is completed and findings are published.

The proposal also calls for burning about 55 million ZETA in undistributed validator rewards through 12 monthly transactions in 2027, each removing roughly 4.6 million tokens. The final total will depend on rewards distributed before the chain stops. Purchaser and core contributor vesting is due to finish January 1, 2027. Separately, the Foundation has pledged not to sell newly released tokens from specified Foundation-controlled allocations during 2027.

ZetaChain plans to launch ZetaLabs on December 9, describing it as a private AI application on Solana. Building on Anuma Chat, which the company says has operated since February 2026, it is intended to combine multiple AI models, live financial market data and encrypted user memory. Planned tools include Chat for market research, Radar for market activity, Bloom for encrypted transaction history and a dashboard for token supply and burns. Payments would be available in ZETA, USDC or by card; locking ZETA would unlock premium features planned for the first quarter of 2027.

The project has committed to maintaining an archive node until at least October 31, 2027. If the November 7 vote fails, the September decision in favor of migration remains, but ZetaChain would need to submit a revised proposal before proceeding.