Stargate in 2026: STG Became ZRO, and What Bridgers and LPs Can Still Earn

Jack Mercer
October 13, 2026

For years Stargate was a classic “bridge and farm” protocol: provide stablecoin liquidity, earn fees plus STG emissions, lock STG for veSTG and vote on where rewards went. That model is over. In 2025 the LayerZero Foundation bought Stargate, the Stargate DAO voted to dissolve itself, and STG became a token you can only meaningfully do one thing with: convert into ZRO at a fixed rate. The bridge, however, is still running and still one of the busiest routes for moving native USDC, USDT and ETH between chains. This guide explains what changed, what STG holders should do now, what liquidity providers can still earn, and how to avoid the fake “STG migration” pages that inevitably followed the deal.

What Stargate is

Stargate is a cross-chain liquidity protocol built on LayerZero’s messaging layer. Unlike bridges that mint wrapped tokens, Stargate keeps pools of native assets on each chain. When you bridge 1,000 USDC from Arbitrum to Base, you deposit into the Arbitrum pool and receive USDC from the Base pool; a LayerZero message tells the destination side to pay you. Its site now advertises bridging of native USDC, USDT, ETH, BTC and OFT tokens across more than 80 chains.

Stargate V2, the current version, introduced several mechanics worth knowing:

Bus and Taxi. Taxi sends your transfer immediately as its own message. Bus batches several users into one message, so each passenger pays a fraction of the messaging fee; with a six-seat bus, a ticket costs roughly one sixth. The bus leaves when it is full or when a maximum waiting time is reached, and you can pay the remaining seats yourself to make it depart early. The interface shows the estimated wait.
Hydra. On newer chains without deep native liquidity, Stargate locks assets in pools on core chains and mints OFT representations on the destination, backed by that pool liquidity.
Credit allocation. An automated planning module allocates “credits” that determine how much can flow between pool pairs. It can throttle a pathway, for instance during a depeg or a chain exploit, but because credits and funds use separate messages, it cannot touch user or LP funds.

Older V1 pools still exist for some routes, and when a route is only available on V1 the interface uses Taxi automatically.

The LayerZero acquisition and what happened to STG

On 10 August 2025 the LayerZero Foundation posted a proposal on the Stargate governance forum to acquire the protocol. The terms:

Every STG, including staked and voting STG, could be exchanged for 0.08634 ZRO. That ratio was based on an offer price of $0.1675 per STG and a ZRO price of $1.94 at the time, valuing the deal at roughly $110 million.
The Stargate DAO would be dissolved, and the LayerZero Foundation would take over operating the protocol.
Excess protocol revenue would go to buying ZRO on the open market.
The swap contract would stay open indefinitely, with advance notice promised before any closure.

The offer drew criticism from long-term veSTG lockers, and Wormhole made a rival bid of about $120 million in USDC. LayerZero amended its proposal so that veSTG holders who were staked when it was posted would receive 50% of Stargate’s top-line revenue for six months, with the other half going to ZRO buybacks. The amended deal passed with about 95% of votes in favour, and the acquisition completed in September 2025.

Since then the six-month revenue share has run its course, STG staking no longer exists, and all excess revenue flows to ZRO buybacks. According to DefiLlama’s tracking, the STG that remained in the dissolved DAO’s treasury was burned in February 2026.

Stargate Rewards 2026: How to Track Cross-Chain Liquidity Activity Safely

What STG holders should do now

STG no longer governs anything and no longer earns anything. Its value comes from the fixed conversion into ZRO and from whatever the market pays for it on exchanges, which tends to track that conversion value.

Locked veSTG. With staking terminated, previously locked STG is released and can be converted. There is no separate unlock to wait for, though you should check your position on the official app.
Converting. Use the conversion route linked from stargate.finance or LayerZero’s official announcements. The rate is fixed, so there is no benefit to rushing, and no reason to trust a third-party “migration” page.
Selling instead. Some holders sell STG on the market rather than converting. Compare the market price with 0.08634 times the ZRO price, minus gas, before deciding.
Tax and records. A conversion of one token into another is often a taxable disposal. Keep the transaction hash and the ZRO price at the time.

Holding ZRO afterwards is a bet on LayerZero as a whole, not on Stargate alone. Stargate’s revenue now supports ZRO through buybacks, but ZRO is not a dividend token and pays nothing to your wallet directly.

What you can still earn on Stargate

With STG gone, the rewards picture is simpler:

Liquidity provider fees. Depositing into a Stargate pool on the Pool page earns a share of the fees bridgers pay on that asset. This remains the main source of income on Stargate, and it depends on bridge volume through that pool rather than on token emissions.
Incentives in the Earn tab. The app keeps an Earn section. Treat the rewards it shows, not old forum posts or third-party yield sites, as the only current incentives. Since the DAO that voted on STG emissions no longer exists, do not assume STG farming continues; check what token, if any, a farm actually pays.
Fee savings as a user. For bridgers, the real “reward” is lower costs: taking the Bus instead of the Taxi on non-urgent transfers, and choosing native-asset routes that avoid wrapped tokens.

There is no Stargate points program and no announced Stargate airdrop. LayerZero ran its own ZRO airdrop in 2024, and people sometimes hope bridging through Stargate will count toward a future LayerZero distribution. Nothing has been announced to support that, and the fixed STG conversion is the only token distribution Stargate users have been offered since the acquisition.

How to bridge and provide liquidity safely

Start from stargate.finance. Type the address or use a bookmark. Bridge clones are among the most common drainer sites.
Check the route and mode. Pick source chain, destination chain and asset, then compare Bus and Taxi. Bus is cheaper but may wait; Taxi leaves immediately.
Read the fee breakdown. You pay gas on the source chain, the LayerZero messaging fee in the source chain’s native token, and the protocol fee, which Stargate adjusts to stay competitive.
Track the transfer. Every Stargate message can be followed on LayerZero Scan using your source transaction hash. If a transfer looks stuck, check there before contacting anyone.
For LPs, plan withdrawals. On V2, withdrawing on the chain you deposited on is close to instant. Redeeming on a different chain takes longer; from Polygon, for example, it needs 512 block confirmations, around 20 minutes. V1 pools remain operational, but the docs recommend moving liquidity to V2.
Size the first transfer small. Especially on a new route or chain, send a test amount before moving size.

Risks specific to Stargate

Messaging layer risk. Every transfer depends on LayerZero messages being verified correctly. A failure in that layer would hit Stargate directly.
Pool imbalance and credits. If one side of a route is drained, the credit system can slow or stop transfers on that pathway. As an LP, your pool’s asset can be temporarily hard to move cross-chain.
Depeg exposure. Stablecoin LPs carry the risk of the stablecoin itself. During a depeg, a pool can end up holding mostly the weaker asset.
Hydra-minted assets. OFTs on Hydra chains are backed by locked pool liquidity on core chains. Their safety depends on that backing and on the bridge path staying intact.
Centralised operation. With the DAO dissolved, decisions on fees, routes and incentives are made by the LayerZero Foundation rather than by token holder votes.

Spotting fake Stargate pages

The official app is stargate.finance, the docs are at stargateprotocol.gitbook.io/stargate, and the X account is @StargateFinance. LayerZero’s own site is layerzero.network.
The STG to ZRO rate is fixed at 0.08634. Any page offering a “bonus rate”, an “early migration multiplier” or a deadline countdown is a scam.
There is no STG airdrop, no Stargate points and no veSTG reward claim still pending. Pages claiming otherwise are fishing for approvals.
The Stargate governance forum is now a historical record. New proposals or “votes” asking you to connect a wallet and sign are not real.
A conversion requires approving STG for the official contract only. If a site asks you to approve USDC, ETH or other tokens to “migrate STG”, leave.

FAQ

Can I still convert STG to ZRO?

Yes. The acquisition terms keep the swap contract open indefinitely at 0.08634 ZRO per STG, with advance notice promised before any closure.

Do veSTG holders still receive revenue?

No. The 50% revenue share for eligible veSTG holders lasted six months after the acquisition and has ended. Staking has been terminated.

Is Stargate still safe to use after the acquisition?

The bridge kept running without downtime through the transition and is now operated by the LayerZero Foundation. The usual bridge risks still apply.

Is there a Stargate airdrop or points program?

No. Neither Stargate nor LayerZero has announced one tied to Stargate usage.

What do liquidity providers earn now?

A share of bridge fees on their pool, plus any incentive the official Earn page currently lists. STG governance-directed emissions ended with the DAO.

Verdict

Stargate in 2026 is a working bridge without a token of its own. STG’s story ended in a fixed conversion to ZRO, the veSTG revenue share has expired, and Stargate’s revenue now supports ZRO buybacks. What remains for users is practical: cheaper transfers through Bus mode, native-asset routes across dozens of chains, and LP fees for those willing to carry pool and depeg risk. If you still hold STG, convert or sell through official routes only, and treat every “migration bonus” as the scam it almost certainly is.

This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Bridging and providing liquidity carry smart contract, depeg and operational risks that can lead to loss of funds.