LayerZero buys Stargate in $110M deal with 95% approval

• LayerZero secured a $110 million deal to buy Stargate, with 95% community approval after revising its offer.
• Rival bids came from Wormhole, Axelar, and Across, but Stargate moved forward with LayerZero’s proposal.
• The updated deal gives stakers half of Stargate’s revenue for six months and swaps all STG tokens for ZRO.

LayerZero Stargate, a blockchain messaging protocol, has won a $110 million deal to buy Stargate, a cross chain platform it created in 2022.

The Stargate community voted on Sunday, with 95% approving the deal after LayerZero tweaked its offer following complaints it wasn’t fair. Three other companies, Wormhole, Axelar, and Across, also showed interest, turning it into a last minute bidding war.

Community Strength and Rival Offers

Over 15,000 wallet addresses voted, with 94.76% (7.2 million STG tokens) backing LayerZero’s offer, while 5.24% (399,400 tokens) voted no, making it Stargate’s biggest vote ever, according to LayerZero’s CEO Bryan Pellegrino.

Wormhole tried to outbid with a $120 million cash offer, promising stakers three times the projected revenue for six months, but their request to pause the vote was denied.

Axelar and Across also wanted to bid but needed more time for a fair process, which Stargate’s lead, Angus Lamps, said wasn’t possible. The original deal upset some STG holders because it focused on buying back LayerZero’s ZRO token without clear benefits for them.

LayerZero changed it to share half of Stargate’s revenue with stakers for six months, with the other half for ZRO buybacks.

All STG tokens will now swap for ZRO at a rate of 1 STG to 0.08634 ZRO. Stargate’s tech, which uses liquidity pools for safer cross chain transfers compared to hack prone bridges, will return to LayerZero’s control, strengthening its role in blockchain interoperability.