Swap STG at the Best Rate

What is STG?

STG launched as the governance and staking asset of Stargate, a protocol that moves stablecoins and ETH between blockchains out of single-sided liquidity pools. Stargate was the first application built on LayerZero's messaging network, and STG itself was the first Omnichain Fungible Token: Stargate deployed its own token contract on each supported chain, and moving STG across chains burns it on one side and mints it on the other instead of wrapping it.

Since August 2025 the token no longer governs anything. The Stargate DAO voted to accept an acquisition offer from the LayerZero Foundation, which dissolved the DAO, ended STG staking, and left the token with a single designed function: converting into ZRO, the LayerZero protocol's own token, at a fixed rate through a redemption contract.

How STG works

The protocol behind STG keeps a pool of each supported asset on each chain. A transfer takes one transaction: the source pool receives the asset, a LayerZero message crosses to the destination chain, and the destination pool pays the recipient out of local liquidity. Users receive the native asset on the destination chain rather than a wrapped IOU, which is the design Stargate calls unified liquidity.

STG moves between chains the same way. The deployments this page lists on Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum and OP Mainnet are Stargate's own StargateToken contracts, published in the project documentation, so the token is native on each of those networks rather than a third-party bridged copy.

STG supply and tokenomics

One billion STG were minted at genesis, and the documentation describes that as the entire finite supply. Core contributors received 17.5% and investors 17.5%, each behind a one-year full lockup followed by two years of linear unlocking. The 65% community allocation broke down into 15% for the protocol launch, 15.95% for post-launch bonding curves, 2.11% for an initial emissions program, up to 1.55% for exchange liquidity across six chains, and 30.39% reserved for future community initiatives.

The launch was a liquidity generation event that began on 17 March 2022. A 48-hour auction sold 100 million STG, 10% of the supply, for up to 25 million USDC, with purchases locked for a year and unlocking linearly over six months after that. The proceeds were paired with a further 5% of supply to seed a protocol-owned STG and USDC pool on Curve.

Who builds STG

Stargate was designed and launched by LayerZero Labs, the company behind the LayerZero messaging protocol, and went live in March 2022 across seven chains. Development stayed close to LayerZero throughout, which is why the 2025 acquisition proposal described the deal as bringing the bridge home rather than selling it to an outsider.

Since the acquisition closed, the LayerZero Foundation owns and operates Stargate. The bridge keeps running, but decisions about the protocol, its treasury and its revenue are made by the Foundation rather than by token holders.

How STG is governed

Until 2025, locking STG produced veSTG, the DAO's voting weight, and veSTG holders shared in protocol revenue. On 10 August 2025 the LayerZero Foundation proposed acquiring Stargate outright, protocol, token and treasury, valuing STG at 110 million dollars paid in ZRO. The Snapshot vote closed on 23 August 2025 with roughly 95% approval on the highest turnout in the DAO's history, and a competing 120 million USDC offer from Wormhole was passed over.

The passing vote dissolved the Stargate DAO. Locked veSTG positions were released, staking ended, and holders locked before the proposal date received half of protocol revenue for six months while the other half funded ZRO buybacks. After that window, Stargate's excess revenue goes entirely to buying back ZRO.

What people use STG for

STG's remaining designed use is redemption. A fixed-rate contract on the Stargate platform converts each STG into 0.08634 ZRO. It opened on 26 August 2025, both liquid and formerly staked balances qualify, and the acquisition terms state it remains open indefinitely with advance notice promised before any closure. Beyond that, STG trades like any ERC-20 and can still be held or pooled, but it earns nothing and votes on nothing.

STG risks and considerations

STG no longer has an independent function: its value is anchored to the fixed 0.08634 ZRO redemption rate, so it inherits ZRO's market risk while carrying none of ZRO's utility directly. The redemption contract is a commitment by the LayerZero Foundation rather than an immutable mechanism, and the published terms reserve the right to close it after advance notice.

Holders also gave up the old revenue share: once the six-month window after the vote ended, protocol revenue buys back ZRO, not STG. Anyone weighing holding STG against converting it is relying on the Foundation's published terms, so read the acquisition proposal on the governance forum rather than a third-party summary.