ZETA Holders Back Solana Move With 99.4% Governance Support

ZetaChain holders backed Proposal 68 with 99.4% support ahead of its Sept. 20 deadline, approving a direction to migrate native ZETA to Solana and eventually retire the project’s own Layer 1. Participation reached 58%, clearing the required 40% quorum, while 0.3% voted against and 0.3% abstained, according to ZetaHub’s live governance tally.

The vote is directional rather than operational. It does not itself move ZETA or shut down the network. Core contributors must first coordinate with exchanges that list ZETA, because participating platforms need to confirm their token-swap procedures before the next governance proposal is submitted. That second proposal, referred to as Proposal 2, would then need to approve the migration mechanism, exchange arrangements and the schedule for winding down the existing chain.

Proposal 68 and the ZETA-to-Solana migration

Proposal 68 establishes Solana as ZETA’s canonical network after a completed migration. Native ZETA, the version issued on ZetaChain’s Cosmos-based chain, would convert one-for-one into a Solana SPL token. The proposal says the total supply would remain unchanged and no new tokens would be created as part of the conversion.

The ticker would remain ZETA, while existing vesting schedules would continue through their original dates rather than reset. The proposal also identifies a technical adjustment involving decimals. Native ZETA currently uses 18 decimal places, while the proposed Solana token would use nine. Balances would convert from 18 to nine decimals, and amounts below the supported precision would be rounded down.

The current governance scope applies only to ZETA native to ZetaChain’s own chain. ZETA already issued on Ethereum and BNB Chain sits outside Proposal 68, so those holdings are not included in this conversion framework. ZetaChain also ruled out making the Solana asset a wrapped representation backed by tokens permanently locked on its own chain. Its proposal argues that such a bridge model depends on the original chain continuing to operate, whereas the plan under consideration would eventually shut that chain down.

For holders, the distinction between the strategic vote and an executable migration remains important. Proposal 68 sets out the intended destination for native ZETA and the project’s plan to stop operating its independent Layer 1. It does not yet establish the final migration dates, snapshot details, token-claim process or the time at which the current network could halt.

What the vote means for ZetaChain’s structure

Nothing changes immediately at the network level under Proposal 68 alone. ZetaChain validators would continue validating, users could continue staking and current balances would remain unchanged until another governance vote takes place. Before that vote can be submitted, core contributors need to coordinate with exchanges that list ZETA and obtain confirmation of their token-swap procedures.

Once submitted, Proposal 2 would establish the block height for the balance snapshot, the withdrawal window for connected chains, the chain halt, the Solana claim process and the exchange conversion period. It would contain the holder protections and technical details needed for execution. ZetaChain says it plans to publish the snapshot export and checksum so balances can be independently reproduced, while an archive node and explorer would remain accessible after shutdown.

Programs or contracts holding user ZETA during the migration would undergo audits before handling tokens, according to the proposal. Staking rewards would continue until the shutdown time set in Proposal 2. ZetaChain has not finalized how staking could operate after ZETA becomes a Solana-native asset, describing the future mechanism as under active exploration.

The proposal cites the maintenance burden of operating Cosmos SDK and related components as part of the rationale for leaving the Layer 1. ZetaChain’s node repository confirms that the network is built with Cosmos SDK and Cosmos EVM, which requires coordination around upstream software upgrades and security patches. The proposal refers to an Aug. 25 security response as an example of that continuing work.

Cosmos Labs’ technical post-mortem found that attackers exploited a critical Cosmos EVM vulnerability across six chains between Aug. 20 and Aug. 25. The public post-mortem does not identify ZetaChain as one of the exploited networks. The proposal therefore cites the broader work of vulnerability management and validator coordination associated with operating a Cosmos-based Layer 1, rather than describing the incident as a direct exploit of ZetaChain.

Anuma, the AI pivot, and the Solana rationale

The migration proposal extends beyond the token. Anuma, ZetaChain’s private multi-model AI application, and its Private Memory Layer would move to Solana as part of the project’s new technical focus. ZetaChain says more than 300,000 people have joined Anuma since its February launch. Its published data showed 301,195 users through Sept. 16, and the application had processed more than one million requests across 35 AI models.

Anuma uses encrypted memory intended to remain under a user’s control while that person moves among different AI models. ZetaChain says closed-model providers receive only the context needed for individual requests, while a private mode routes queries to open models using zero-retention infrastructure. Those descriptions are company claims about the application’s design.

ZETA already has a utility role inside Anuma. Users can lock ZETA to receive credits and spend those credits on AI usage, with locked tokens removed from circulating supply while committed. ZetaChain wants other Solana applications and agents to connect to the same Private Memory Layer and use ZETA within that application system.

The project cited Solana’s speed, transaction costs, liquidity and agent infrastructure when explaining the proposed move. Its Sept. 17 announcement referred to confirmations of roughly 400 milliseconds and described sub-cent settlement as suitable for repeated AI-agent transactions. The proposed shift would move the project away from maintaining its own independent consensus set for the token and toward Solana infrastructure after a completed migration and Layer 1 shutdown.

ZETA traded around $0.0342 on Sept. 17, the date ZetaChain announced the migration proposal, before closing near $0.0400 on Sept. 19, according to CoinGecko historical data. That represents a move of roughly 17% across the two dates. The price data does not establish that the governance proposal alone caused the rise.

What comes next for ZETA holders

The practical timeline depends on exchange coordination and Proposal 2. ZetaChain says the second proposal will not be submitted until participating exchanges have confirmed their token-swap procedures. Once submitted, it would need to define the migration dates, final snapshot block height, claims process, exchange arrangements, connected-chain withdrawal window and the exact schedule for halting the existing chain.

Proposal 68 authorizes core contributors to prepare that next stage, but it does not itself set an immediate deadline for holders. Until Proposal 2 passes, ZetaChain’s existing Layer 1, its staking system, validator set and native ZETA balances remain in operation. Holders will need to watch for the operational details that a second vote would place before the community.

Follow CoinNews on X and Telegram for continuing coverage as ZetaChain’s Proposal 2 takes shape and the migration timeline firms up.