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LayerZero Labs dropped a significant ecosystem update on September 15, 2026, and the changes are substantial enough to affect every participant in the LayerZero and Stargate ecosystems. Token holders, developers, and bridge users all have deadlines to track now.
The most consequential item: STG token holders have until December 15, 2026 to convert their tokens to ZRO. After that date, the conversion window closes permanently.
What’s actually changing, and when
The fixed conversion rate sits at 1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO, a figure locked in during the acquisition terms agreed upon in 2025. That math won’t change before the deadline, but access to it will.
On the transaction side, Stargate is moving to an exclusively Taxi-based model starting October 1, 2026. Currently, Stargate offers different transaction modes with different speed and cost trade-offs. Taxi is the faster option, prioritizing speed over batching efficiency. After October 1, it becomes the only option.
The practical implication is straightforward: users who’ve built workflows or integrations around other transaction modes will need to update them before the October deadline, which arrives well before the December token conversion cutoff.
LayerZero is also trimming its testnet footprint. By the end of October 2026, supported testnets will be reduced to approximately ten prioritized networks. Developers building or testing on less-trafficked testnets should verify whether their environment makes the cut.
Bug bounties get restructured
The bug bounty programs are also seeing a meaningful overhaul. The V1 bug bounty program ends on December 15, 2026, timed to coincide with the deprecation of the V1 Relayer. When the infrastructure goes offline, so does the bounty tied to it.
The V2 program is expanding significantly. LayerZero is scaling the V2 bug bounty to $3.5 million, and it will absorb the legacy Stargate program under that umbrella. Security researchers currently participating under the older Stargate bounty will want to familiarize themselves with the V2 structure to ensure continued eligibility.
Reading the strategy behind the deadlines
Taken together, these changes describe a protocol in active consolidation mode. LayerZero is pruning the components of its ecosystem that reflect earlier-stage development: V1 infrastructure, underutilized testnets, legacy transaction modes, and the STG token’s independent existence as a separate asset.
The STG-to-ZRO conversion has been available since the 2025 acquisition, but a meaningful portion of STG supply likely remains unconverted. Hard deadlines are effective at prompting action in a way that open-ended availability simply isn’t. Expect conversion volume to pick up materially as December 15 approaches.
The shift to exclusive Taxi transactions on Stargate reflects a different kind of consolidation. Offering multiple transaction modes creates user experience complexity and requires maintaining parallel infrastructure. Standardizing on Taxi simplifies the product surface for users and likely reduces operational overhead for the team.
For developers, the testnet reduction is the change most likely to require immediate attention. Testnet deprecations tend to be quieter than mainnet changes but can be disruptive to teams running continuous integration against a network that’s suddenly unsupported. LayerZero’s move to roughly ten prioritized testnets suggests a philosophy of depth over breadth, supporting fewer environments more robustly rather than spreading resources across a long tail of low-activity chains.
STG holders who have been waiting for a convenient moment to convert now have a firm reason to stop waiting. The December 15 deadline is roughly three months out from the September 15 announcement, which is enough runway to act without urgency, but not enough to forget about it entirely.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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