Wormhole Basis (WF) entered the bidding competitors for Stargate Finance, difficult LayerZero’s proposed $110 million acquisition.
In an Aug. 20 assertion through X, WF argued that LayerZero’s provide considerably undervalues the cross-chain bridge protocol.
LayerZero Basis introduced its acquisition proposal on Aug. 10, providing to buy all circulating STG tokens at $0.1675 per token by a swap for ZRO tokens.
The proposal requires approval from STG holders by Stargate’s governance course of, with a 70% approval threshold wanted for passage.
Wormhole Basis contended that LayerZero’s bid fails to replicate Stargate’s true worth, citing the protocol’s treasury holdings and up to date efficiency metrics.
Additional, Wormhole shared that Stargate maintains over $92 million in treasury belongings, together with $76 million in stablecoins and $16 million in Ethereum, whereas demonstrating substantial development momentum.
Efficiency drives valuation dispute
On-chain information reveals that Stargate processed $4 billion in bridge quantity throughout July 2025, representing a 10x year-over-year enhance. As of Aug. 20, it had $348 million in whole worth locked (TVL) throughout greater than 80 chains.
In accordance with the Wormhole Basis:
“STG holders deserve higher. The present bid undervalues the protocol’s belongings, model, codebase, and staff.”
The WF added that these fundamentals justify a “meaningfully larger provide” than LayerZero’s proposed valuation.
LayerZero Basis defends its pricing, noting Stargate’s backing of $0.14444 per circulating token in comparison with its buying and selling value of $0.1637 per token at proposal time. It added that based mostly on its calculations, the provide represents a premium on each metrics.
Variations past affords
LayerZero positions the acquisition as ecosystem consolidation, noting Stargate’s established infrastructure and person base. The muse plans to direct all future Stargate extra income towards ZRO token buybacks whereas increasing the protocol’s mandate past conventional bridging companies.
As well as, LayerZero argued that unified governance would get rid of useful resource conflicts between doubtlessly aggressive protocols.
On the similar time, Wormhole Basis proposed another imaginative and prescient combining “Stargate’s unified liquidity swimming pools with our broad ecosystem of integrations.”
The muse mentioned this strategy would generate “larger volumes, larger revenues, and higher stickiness,” benefiting each STG and W token holders. It additionally requested a five-business-day suspension of the continuing on LayerZero’s proposal vote to permit time for due diligence and bid preparation.
The governance vote requires a 1.2 million veSTG token quorum with 70% approval for LayerZero’s proposal to cross. The proposal was amended to supply further compensation for veSTG stakers by six months of income distribution.
The modification occurred following criticism concerning the equal therapy of locked versus unlocked tokens.
