Wormhole has jumped into the bidding plans for bridging service Stargate, promising a bid above LayerZero’s initial $110 million token-swap proposal.

It wants the Snapshot vote delayed so the community can weigh its offer.

Stargate’s numbers explain the interest. The bridge processed $4 billion in July, holds $345 million in TVL, and sits on a treasury of $92 million in stables and ether, plus $55 million in STG and other assets. The annual revenue is approximately $2 million.

“Based on our initial review, we believe that STG holders deserve a more competitive process, and we are prepared to submit a meaningfully higher bid,” the proposal said.

LayerZero’s proposal would transfer both the treasury and future income, which critics call a discount. Wormhole says the terms shortchange tokenholders and that “STG holders deserve better.”

A Wormhole–Stargate tie-up would create one of the largest cross-chain hubs in crypto, pairing Stargate’s unified liquidity pools with Wormhole’s integrations across dozens of networks. The foundation argues this would boost volume and long-term resilience for both ecosystems.

“The Wormhole Foundation sees unrealized value in the Stargate brand, protocol, and protocol assets,” the proposal said. “The Wormhole Foundation is confident that a successful combination of Stargate and the Wormhole ecosystem will lead to the most immediate and long-term value for current holders of STG, as well as current and future holders of Wormhole (W).”

Wormhole has requested a five-day delay in the vote, seeking more time for due diligence and a fairer process.

Read more: LayerZero Proposes $110M Stargate Token Merger in Consolidation Play

Wormhole Foundation (WF) entered the bidding competition for Stargate Finance, challenging LayerZero’s proposed $110 million acquisition.

In an Aug. 20 statement via X, WF argued that LayerZero’s offer significantly undervalues the cross-chain bridge protocol.

LayerZero Foundation announced its acquisition proposal on Aug. 10, offering to purchase all circulating STG tokens at $0.1675 per token through a swap for ZRO tokens. 

The proposal requires approval from STG holders through Stargate’s governance process, with a 70% approval threshold needed for passage.

Wormhole Foundation contended that LayerZero’s bid fails to reflect Stargate’s true value, citing the protocol’s treasury holdings and recent performance metrics.

Further, Wormhole shared that Stargate maintains over $92 million in treasury assets, including $76 million in stablecoins and $16 million in Ethereum, while demonstrating substantial growth momentum.

Performance drives valuation dispute

On-chain data shows that Stargate processed $4 billion in bridge volume during July 2025, representing a 10x year-over-year increase. As of Aug. 20, it had $348 million in total value locked (TVL) across more than 80 chains.

According to the Wormhole Foundation:

“STG holders deserve better. The current bid undervalues the protocol’s assets, brand, codebase, and team.” 

The WF added that these fundamentals justify a “meaningfully higher offer” than LayerZero’s proposed valuation.

LayerZero Foundation defends its pricing, noting Stargate’s backing of $0.14444 per circulating token compared to its trading price of $0.1637 per token at proposal time. It added that based on its calculations, the offer represents a premium on both metrics.

Differences beyond offers

LayerZero positions the acquisition as ecosystem consolidation, noting Stargate’s established infrastructure and user base. The foundation plans to direct all future Stargate excess revenue toward ZRO token buybacks while expanding the protocol’s mandate beyond traditional bridging services.

In addition, LayerZero argued that unified governance would eliminate resource conflicts between potentially competitive protocols.

At the same time, Wormhole Foundation proposed an alternative vision combining “Stargate’s unified liquidity pools with our broad ecosystem of integrations.” 

The foundation said this approach would generate “higher volumes, higher revenues, and greater stickiness,” benefiting both STG and W token holders. It also requested a five-business-day suspension of the ongoing on LayerZero’s proposal vote to allow 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 pass. The proposal was amended to provide additional compensation for veSTG stakers through six months of revenue distribution.

The amendment happened following criticism about the equal treatment of locked versus unlocked tokens.

Mentioned in this article

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

About Author

Amin Ayan is a crypto journalist with over four years of experience in the industry. He has contributed to leading publications such as Cryptonews, Investing.com, 99Bitcoins, and 24/7 Wall St. He has…

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May 24, 2025

A US federal judge has thrown out major convictions against Avraham Eisenberg, the man accused of exploiting decentralized exchange Mango Markets for $110 million.

On Friday, Judge Arun Subramanian vacated Eisenberg’s convictions for commodities fraud and market manipulation, stating that prosecutors failed to prove he made materially false representations.

The court also acquitted Eisenberg of a third charge, leaving the government’s case significantly weakened.

Eisenberg Used Token Pump to Drain $110M from Mango

Eisenberg had been found guilty in April 2024 after a jury concluded he manipulated Mango’s MNGO token price by over 1,300% within minutes.

He then used the inflated value as collateral to drain the protocol of $110 million in crypto.

While the Department of Justice framed the act as a calculated deception of a smart contract system, Eisenberg’s defense insisted he simply took advantage of flawed but open code — without lying or misleading the protocol.

Judge Subramanian sided with this view, noting that the platform was “permissionless and automatic,” making it difficult to establish a legal basis for fraud. “There was insufficient evidence of falsity,” he wrote.

The ruling also rejected New York as the proper venue for the trial.

Eisenberg was based in Puerto Rico during the trades, and the judge dismissed the DOJ’s attempts to tie the case to the state through a Mango user in Poughkeepsie and a third-party service provider in Manhattan.

The vacated charges now leave the Justice Department to decide whether to pursue the case again.

However, recent signals from the Trump administration suggest a cooling stance on crypto-related enforcement.

Eisenberg Remains in Prison for Child Pornography Possession

Despite the court win, Eisenberg remains in federal custody. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on an unrelated charge of child pornography possession, based on evidence found during his 2022 arrest in Puerto Rico.

Eisenberg still faces separate civil cases brought by the SEC and CFTC.

On October 11, 2022, Mango Markets was the victim of an attack in which approximately $110 million was drained from its treasury.

Shortly after the attack, Avraham Eisenberg came forward as the perpetrator, asserting that the exploit was merely a “highly profitable trading strategy” and claiming it was conducted within the bounds of legality and the protocol’s intended design.

According to prosecutors, Eisenberg utilized two accounts to engage in manipulative trading involving futures contracts tied to the values of Mango’s token MNGO and the stablecoin USD Coin.

Last month, US federal prosecutors asked for a prison sentence of up to 6.5 years for Eisenberg.

In their filing, prosecutors emphasized the severity of Eisenberg’s actions, stating that his scheme not only defrauded investors of over $100 million but also forced Mango Markets to shut down.