In Brief:
- A 99.4% majority of ZetaChain token holders backed a proposal to wind down the project’s layer 1 blockchain and move ZETA over to Solana.
- The migration itself still needs a second proposal spelling out the practical details; operational efficiency and security concerns are the stated drivers.
- The relocation brings ZETA closer to Anuma, ZetaChain’s AI application, which is looking to tap into Solana's larger user base and liquidity.
Holders vote to retire the layer 1 in favor of Solana
ZetaChain’s community has decisively backed a plan to close down its layer 1 blockchain and move the ZETA token to Solana. Proposal 68 cleared on September 20 with 99.4 percent approval and a turnout of 58 percent of eligible stakers. The result sets the direction but does not start the migration on its own — a follow-up proposal has to define exactly how and when the switch will take place.
How the token conversion works
ZETA will be swapped 1:1 for a new SPL token on Solana, keeping its ticker and leaving the total supply untouched. Vesting schedules already in place will carry on without interruption. One technical distinction is decimal precision: native ZETA on the existing chain runs on 18 decimals, whereas the SPL version will be capped at 9. Only very small balances are affected by this, and those will be rounded down.
ZETA issued on Ethereum and BNB Chain is unaffected by the vote.
More votes still to come
The next proposal will lay out the operational side of the migration — the snapshot block height, the claim procedure, and coordination with exchanges ahead of the layer 1 shutdown. No timeline has been set, as the team is waiting on confirmations from exchanges. Staking on Solana is also being explored. In the meantime, ZetaChain’s layer 1 keeps running as usual.
Holders are advised to stay alert during the migration window, as phishing sites and fake tokens tend to surface at such moments.
Why Solana
The ZetaChain team pointed to three factors behind the move. The first is the ongoing maintenance load of running a Cosmos SDK network, which depends on coordinating a set of independent validators. The second is security: the team expects AI tools to surface more vulnerabilities over time, meaning more patches and more coordination work.
That worry was reinforced by a recent security incident affecting several Cosmos EVM chains. In August 2026, vulnerabilities resulted in roughly $5.7 million being stolen. ZetaChain itself was not hit, but the episode illustrated the exposure.
The third factor is a strategic pivot toward Anuma, ZetaChain’s AI application, which went live in February 2026. Anuma relies on an encrypted memory system to improve the user experience across models and agents, and it has attracted more than 301,000 users since launch.
The Anuma link
Bringing ZETA to Solana places the token inside a network with deeper liquidity and more active users. Within Anuma, holders can lock ZETA in exchange for AI service credits, tying the token to a product that aims to fill a gap in Solana’s AI infrastructure.
From omnichain layer 1 to SPL token
The change is a major turn for ZetaChain, which raised $27 million in August 2023 and launched its mainnet in January 2024. The project was originally built as an omnichain layer 1 designed to enable interactions across multiple blockchains.
The migration proposal first appeared on September 17, 2026, when ZETA was changing hands at around $0.0342; by September 19 the price had climbed to $0.0400.
The decision fits a wider pattern among smaller layer 1 networks, which often find it hard to sustain validator support and security. By choosing an established ecosystem, ZetaChain’s token holders have signaled a preference for building on existing networks rather than maintaining their own.
What it means for gaming
The vote has no direct gaming element, yet it raises questions for the many on-chain games that have spun up their own networks. Those studios face the same operational pressures ZetaChain described. A well-funded project choosing this path gives teams a reference point when weighing a dedicated chain against deploying on an established network like Solana, where plenty of titles are already live.