Blockchain messaging protocol LayerZero has won the bid to acquire crypto protocol Stargate after a shaky first offer and a late four-way bidding war.

Stargate’s community voted on Sunday with a 95% majority to greenlight the LayerZero Foundation’s $110 million acquisition proposal, which it amended after holders of the Stargate (STG) token said the original deal was unfair.

Three of LayerZero’s rivals also put in last-minute bids or intent-to-bids to acquire Stargate, with one bidder, Wormhole, unsuccessfully asking for the vote on LayerZero’s acquisition to be paused.

LayerZero developed and launched Stargate in 2022, and the deal now sees the platform come back under its control. Stargate facilitates transfers across blockchains using liquidity pools that it says allow assets to be transferred natively instead of relying on blockchain bridges, which have a history of being hacked.

LayerZero claims record participation 

LayerZero co-founder and CEO Bryan Pellegrino wrote on X on Sunday that the Stargate community vote had “the highest participation of any vote” in the platform’s history.

The voting website shows over 15,000 addresses took part, with 94.76% representing 7.2 million STG tokens voting in favor, while 5.24%, or 399,400 tokens, voted against. 

“Not only did ~95% of the stake weight vote in the affirmative, but ~95% of addresses voted in the affirmative,” Pellegrino added.

Wormhole made offer for Stargate

Wormhole made an offer on Saturday after saying on Wednesday that it would “submit a meaningfully higher bid,” and that LayerZero “doesn’t create a compelling offer, which values Stargate’s ongoing business at an unreasonably low number.”

Wormhole pitched a $120 million all-cash purchase that would see stakers of Stargate’s token “receive 3x the projected revenue for the next 6 months, accelerated and paid immediately, as part of our successful acquisition.”

Axelar, Across also considered a bid for Stargate

The cross-blockchain platforms Axelar Network and Across Protocol also signalled their interest in bidding for Stargate on Sunday, with both noting that the vote on LayerZero’s bid would need to be paused.

Across co-founder Hart Lambur posted to Stargate’s forum that it’d been suggested to him that his platform submit an offer for Stargate, but he had “no interest in rushing an 11th-hour proposal, however if this process is slowed down and other bids are properly considered, Across will participate.

The Axelar Foundation posted to the forum a few hours later that it had a “strong interest” in bidding if a “competitive process” was created for the acquisition, it would pitch “a comprehensive proposal and encourage Stargate to collect all options before making a decision.”

However, Stargate Foundation lead Angus Lamps said in response to the bids that the vote on LayerZero’s bid can’t be paused, and Stargate “has been engaging with any parties” that sign a non-disclosure agreement and want to conduct due diligence.

Related: Aave drops over 8% on rumors of World Liberty Financial token deal 

LayerZero’s initial proposal pitched using Stargate’s excess revenue for a ZRO buyback program, which some Stargate community members called “not attractive at all” as it didn’t offer advantages to STG holders.

It revised the offer on Sunday to give Stargate stakers half of all top-line revenue for six months, with the remaining half used to buy back its LayerZero (ZRO) token.

Under the approved deal, all circulating STG will be swapped for ZRO at a ratio of 1 STG to 0.08634 ZRO.

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]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/layerzero-wins-stargate-acquisition-in-4-way-bidding-war/feed/ 0 54978 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/wormhole-seeks-to-outbid-layerzero-for-stargate-acquisition/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/wormhole-seeks-to-outbid-layerzero-for-stargate-acquisition/#respond Fri, 22 Aug 2025 07:43:11 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/wormhole-seeks-to-outbid-layerzero-for-stargate-acquisition/

Wormhole, a cross-chain protocol, has stepped forward to challenge LayerZero’s $110 million attempt to acquire Stargate.

On August 10, LayerZero introduced its first plan to buy Stargate. That bid led to a revised offer on August 17 that received a more positive reaction from the community.

Despite the update, Wormhole argued that the valuation remains too low and that a stronger process is needed before any decision is made.

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In a message posted on Stargate’s forum, The Wormhole Foundation said it is ready to submit a higher offer and asked that voting be paused for five business days. The group explained that this delay would give time to complete its research, meet with the Stargate team, and prepare a full counterproposal.

Wormhole requested access to Stargate’s financial records, details of its assets, usage data, liabilities, and information on any legal or regulatory concerns. It noted that with this information, and the requested pause, it could improve upon LayerZero’s terms and provide a clearer picture of what Stargate is worth.

Beyond the price, Wormhole framed its interest as a chance to create a stronger combined platform.

Stargate stated that it brings established liquidity pools and steady user demand, while Wormhole adds broad integration across multiple blockchains and growth areas such as real-world assets.

Meanwhile, Thumzup Media Corporation recently expanded its involvement in cryptocurrency. How? Read the full story.

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June 9th, 2025 – Singapore, Singapore

TrueNorth, led by a former chief of hybrid CeFi/DeFi exchange WOO and AI experts, raises a strategic angel round to pioneer the agentic economy.

The founders of LayerZero, SEI, Selini Capital, Virtuals, Plume, and Presto Labs have collectively backed an AI platform that uses autonomous agents and real-time data to uncover crypto opportunities. AI-focused firm TrueNorth, co-founded by former WOO COO Willy Chuang and ex-Temasek AI tech investor Alex Lee, has raised $1 million in funding to develop Crypto’s first AI-powered engine. An engine symbiotic to the users’ discovery journey from intent straight to the outcome.

TrueNorth’s agentic technology continuously scans across chains, socials, and macro and project data to surface timely, high-signal insights for every user personalized to their portfolio, trading style, and past behavior.

“We see true AI agents becoming the foundation for how people invest in crypto for the future,” said Willy Chuang and Alex Lee, co-founders of TrueNorth. “The market is only getting more complex, and our goal is to cut through the noise with a hyper-personalized engine powered by a generative user interface (known as Gen UI) that adapts to each user’s style and behavior in real-time. We’re building a system where the agnetic flow and expert distilled reinforcement learning models work quietly in the background, driving the user’s intent infinitely closer to the outcome. Willy Chuang, who previously led operations at the CeFi/DeFi exchange WOO, emphasized the real-world need for tools that reduce cognitive overload in fast-moving markets. “Having led crypto exchanges and worked closely with a broad range of traders and investors, I’ve seen how fragmented data and constant noise creates friction in decision-making,” said Chuang. “TrueNorth is built to simplify this, delivering personalized insights that evolve with each user so they can move faster with more confidence.”For his part, Alex Lee, a PhD in AI, highlighted the platform’s AI-driven approach and ongoing development phase. “AI has reached a point where it can do more than just process data; it can understand context, adapt to users, and continuously improve decision-making,” said Lee. “That’s the foundation we’re building on: agentic intelligence that works behind the scenes to surface what matters most. We’re currently in closed beta, working closely with early users to refine a system that feels intuitive but is powered by serious intelligence.”

TrueNorth’s backers, Bryan Pellegrino of LayerZero, Jeff Feng of SEI, Jordi Alexander of Selini Capital, and Yongjin of Presto Labs, as well as Will Wang of Generative Ventures, share a strong belief in AI’s transformative power in crypto trading. Their interests span key themes such as interoperability, data-driven AI models, algorithmic market strategies, and innovative infrastructure development. Together, these interests reflect not only a shared belief in AI’s potential but also the same principles driving TrueNorth’s mission to simplify and personalize decision-making in decentralized markets.

TrueNorth, a platform under Singapore-registered Advent AI, is working closely with its first 500 early users, the Truthsayers, to refine agentic workflows for AI-native investing in closed beta. In the coming weeks, the team will unveil key details of its advanced architecture and agentic frameworks as it gears up for a public launch aimed at delivering smarter, hyper-personalized crypto discovery tools to a wider audience.

To learn more about TrueNorth, users can visit https://true-north.xyz/

Contact: media@adventai.io

About TrueNorth

TrueNorth is the crypto industry’s first autonomous, AI-powered discovery engine, designed to be symbiotic with the user journey, bringing intent straight to an outcome. Combining on-chain, social, and macro data, TrueNorth uses advanced agentic infrastructure to deliver real-time, tailored insights that evolve with each user’s investment journey. Founded by DeFi/CeFi and AI experts, TrueNorth aims to democratize decentralized finance by making complex crypto information accessible and actionable for investors at all levels. TrueNorth is part of Delphi Labs’ dAGI accelerator, a protocol R&D lab focused on incubating and accelerating new Web3 primitives.

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