What Happened to Stargate (STG)? The ZRO Migration and Deadline Explained

If you still hold Stargate Finance's STG token, the situation is no longer simply about whether the token will recover, remain listed on an exchange, or continue to serve as Stargate's governance asset.

STG is being retired.

Following LayerZero's acquisition of Stargate in 2025, STG holders were given the ability to convert their tokens into LayerZero's ZRO at a fixed rate of 1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO. That conversion now has an end date: LayerZero says STG-to-ZRO conversions will no longer be supported after December 15, 2026.

The deadline matters, but it also creates an easy misunderstanding. The disappearance of STG does not mean the Stargate protocol itself is shutting down. Stargate continues to operate as a LayerZero product, while its former standalone token economy is being consolidated into ZRO.

There is another complication: exchange deadlines are not necessarily the same as the final migration deadline. Binance, for example, plans to stop STG spot trading in October, weeks before LayerZero's December conversion cutoff.

Here is what actually happened to Stargate, why STG is being replaced by ZRO, how the conversion rate was determined, and what the different deadlines mean.

Key Findings

• LayerZero acquired Stargate in August 2025 after the Stargate DAO approved the acquisition proposal.
• STG ceased to have a continuing role in Stargate's operations under the approved acquisition structure and became redeemable for ZRO.
• The fixed conversion rate is 1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO.
• LayerZero says the STG-to-ZRO conversion will remain available until December 15, 2026 and will not be supported after that date.
• The 0.08634 ratio comes from the acquisition terms negotiated in 2025. It is not a floating exchange rate that adjusts with the current market prices of STG and ZRO.
• Exchange-specific deadlines can arrive earlier. Binance plans to stop STG spot trading on October 6, 2026 and says it will handle the token conversion for affected users on its platform.
• STG disappearing does not mean Stargate is disappearing. Stargate continues as a LayerZero product, while its economic relationship with the ecosystem is increasingly tied to ZRO.

What Happened to Stargate (STG)?

Stargate began as a cross-chain liquidity and asset-transfer protocol built on LayerZero infrastructure. Its STG token became part of a separate governance and incentive system around the protocol.

That structure changed fundamentally in 2025.

In August 2025, the LayerZero Foundation proposed acquiring Stargate and consolidating the two ecosystems more closely. The original acquisition proposal described a structure in which circulating STG would be exchangeable for ZRO at a fixed ratio and STG would cease to have a role in Stargate's operations.

The proposal framed the transaction as a way to bring Stargate more directly into the LayerZero ecosystem, combine resources and move toward what it described as a "single token" model.

The proposal was controversial. Some STG and veSTG holders questioned the valuation, the loss of Stargate's standalone token economics and the treatment of revenue previously received by locked token holders. The terms were subsequently modified to include a temporary revenue-sharing arrangement for qualifying veSTG holders.

The acquisition ultimately received overwhelming support from participating Stargate governance voters and went forward in August 2025.

Why Is STG Being Converted to ZRO?

The migration is not a conventional token upgrade in which a project simply deploys a new version of the same asset.

It is a consequence of Stargate's acquisition.

Before the acquisition, Stargate and LayerZero had separate tokens: STG for Stargate and ZRO for LayerZero. After the transaction, LayerZero moved toward consolidating Stargate's economic activity under ZRO rather than maintaining STG as a separate long-term asset.

LayerZero now describes Stargate as an interface for cross-chain value transfer operating as a LayerZero product. In its explanation of how Stargate revenue is connected to ZRO, LayerZero says fees generated by Stargate are used for ZRO purchases. The initial post-acquisition period included revenue sharing with former veSTG holders, after which the structure shifted toward directing Stargate revenue to ZRO buybacks.

This is the central distinction behind the migration:

STG is being retired as a standalone token, but Stargate continues to exist as a product.

Someone seeing STG trading removed from an exchange could reasonably assume that Stargate itself is being discontinued. That would be the wrong conclusion. The token and the product no longer have the same lifecycle.

What Is the STG-to-ZRO Conversion Rate?

The conversion rate is:

1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO

This ratio was established as part of the 2025 acquisition terms. At the time the proposal was presented, LayerZero described the calculation as reflecting approximately $0.1675 per STG and a ZRO reference price of $1.94.

That historical pricing basis is important because the conversion ratio is fixed. It does not continuously recalculate according to the current dollar prices of STG and ZRO.

For example, the token amounts implied by the fixed ratio are straightforward:

Those calculations describe token quantities only. They do not imply that the dollar value of the two sides will always be identical. Because STG and ZRO can trade at changing market prices, the market value of STG and the market value of the ZRO obtainable through the fixed conversion can diverge.

When Is the STG-to-ZRO Migration Deadline?

The most important current date is December 15, 2026.

In its September 15 ecosystem update, LayerZero said STG holders would continue to be able to convert STG into ZRO until December 15 and that conversions would not be supported after that date.

This is notable because the original 2025 acquisition proposal described the redemption contract as remaining open indefinitely unless advance notice was later provided. The September 2026 announcement effectively supplies that later notice and establishes a finite end to the conversion window.

That means older articles or documentation describing STG redemption as indefinite can now be outdated even if they accurately reflected the original acquisition terms.

Why Does Binance Have an Earlier STG Deadline?

December 15 is not the only date STG holders may encounter.

Centralized exchanges can establish their own operational schedules for ending STG trading, suspending deposits and withdrawals, and processing the migration for users who hold the token on their platforms.

For example, Binance says it will support the STG-to-ZRO token merge at the same 1:0.08634 ratio. Its published schedule says STG/USDT spot trading will cease on October 6, 2026 at 03:00 UTC, while STG deposits and withdrawals will be suspended at 03:30 UTC that day.

Binance also says it will handle the technical requirements for users participating in the event through the exchange.

Gate US has published a different platform schedule. Its STG migration announcement says STG trading, deposits and withdrawals will be suspended on October 7 at 23:00 ET and that STG held by users on the platform will be automatically swapped into ZRO at the same fixed rate.

These are therefore different kinds of deadlines:

A holder should therefore not assume that the December deadline guarantees that every exchange will continue supporting STG until December. Platform support can end earlier.

What If Your STG Is in a Self-Custody Wallet?

STG held in a self-custody wallet is different from STG held on an exchange that has explicitly announced an automatic conversion.

Coinbase's current token migration guidance, for example, directs STG holders to migrate STG to ZRO using a self-custody wallet and lists December 15, 2026 as the migration deadline.

The official Stargate redemption process is governed by the project's conversion terms. The STG Redemption Site terms describe the site as the mechanism through which holders can redeem STG for ZRO pursuant to the approved acquisition proposal.

Anyone using a migration interface should independently verify that the domain and wallet interaction are official before approving a transaction. Token migrations frequently create opportunities for phishing sites and fake support accounts because users expect to connect wallets and approve contracts.

If you are unfamiliar with the distinction between an exchange account and a wallet where you control the keys, The Crypto Public's guide to how crypto wallets actually work explains the underlying self-custody model.

What Happens If You Miss the STG Migration Deadline?

This is where the wording of the latest official announcement matters.

LayerZero says conversions will not be supported after December 15, 2026.

That statement should not be expanded into claims the source does not make. It does not, by itself, establish that STG tokens will technically disappear from every blockchain address on December 16. Tokens can continue to exist onchain even after official trading, redemption or utility disappears.

What the announcement does establish is that holders should not assume the official STG-to-ZRO conversion route will remain available after the cutoff.

This distinction is especially important because the original acquisition proposal had contemplated an indefinite redemption period. Anyone relying on that older language should use the newer September 2026 announcement when evaluating the current deadline.

Is Stargate Shutting Down?

No — the retirement of STG should not be confused with the shutdown of Stargate as a product.

LayerZero describes Stargate as an active cross-chain transfer product and continues to make operational changes to it. In August 2026, for example, LayerZero announced new pricing for Stargate OFT transfers, with excess revenue from those fees directed toward ZRO buybacks.

LayerZero has also continued modifying Stargate's transaction infrastructure. Its September ecosystem update says Stargate's lower-cost Bus delivery mode will be retired and that, beginning October 1, transactions will use Stargate Taxi.

At the same time, Stargate's footprint is not static. LayerZero has also announced the deprecation of Stargate v2 support on selected chains during 2026. Those chain-specific changes should not be interpreted as evidence that the entire Stargate protocol is closing.

The better description is that Stargate is being reorganized inside the broader LayerZero ecosystem while STG is being phased out as the separate token associated with it.

What Does Stargate Have to Do With ZRO Now?

The relationship is increasingly economic as well as technical.

Stargate was built on LayerZero infrastructure, but before the acquisition it had its own DAO and token economy. The acquisition consolidated those structures more directly.

LayerZero's current ZRO documentation says Stargate revenue now flows toward ZRO buybacks. According to LayerZero's June 2026 ZRO overview, Stargate revenue from activities including cross-chain transfers, swaps and related products is used to purchase ZRO.

That is materially different from simply replacing one ticker with another.

Under the post-acquisition structure, Stargate remains a revenue-generating product, but STG is no longer the token through which the protocol's long-term economic structure is organized. ZRO occupies that broader ecosystem role.

Why Can the Fixed STG-to-ZRO Ratio Be Confusing?

A fixed token ratio and a market exchange rate are not the same thing.

The 0.08634 ZRO figure was established using values referenced during the acquisition process in 2025. Crypto prices have continued moving since then, but the number of ZRO received per STG through the official conversion does not move with them.

That can produce a difference between:

• the market value of STG at a particular moment;
• the number of ZRO available through the fixed conversion;
• the market value of that ZRO at the same moment.

Those figures should not be assumed to be identical.

This is also why the migration should not be described as a conventional 1:1 token rename. One STG does not become one ZRO. The units, token supplies and economic structures are different, and the conversion ratio was established through the acquisition terms.

What Changed After LayerZero Acquired Stargate?

The acquisition changed more than the ticker attached to Stargate.

• STG's role changed: STG ceased to be the long-term token around which Stargate governance and economics were organized.
• ZRO became the consolidated asset: STG holders received a fixed conversion path into ZRO.
• The DAO structure ended: Stargate moved from its former standalone DAO structure into LayerZero's product ecosystem.
• Revenue economics changed: Stargate-generated revenue became linked to ZRO buybacks after the temporary post-acquisition revenue-sharing period.
• The product continued: Stargate remained operational and continued receiving product, pricing and infrastructure updates.

This is why describing the event only as a "token migration" misses part of the story. The token conversion is the user-facing consequence of a broader acquisition and consolidation of governance, product ownership and token economics.

The Bottom Line

What happened to STG is ultimately an acquisition story rather than a simple token upgrade.

LayerZero acquired Stargate after a 2025 governance process, and the separate STG token economy is now being wound down. STG can be converted into ZRO at the fixed rate of 1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO, with LayerZero's current deadline set for December 15, 2026.

Some exchanges are moving sooner. Binance plans to end STG spot trading in early October and process the conversion for affected users, while other platforms have their own schedules.

But the most important distinction is broader than any deadline:

STG is going away as Stargate's standalone token. Stargate itself is not going away with it.

The protocol continues inside the LayerZero ecosystem, while ZRO increasingly serves as the asset connected to the economic activity generated across LayerZero and Stargate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the STG-to-ZRO conversion rate?

The fixed conversion rate is 1 STG = 0.08634 ZRO. The ratio was established as part of LayerZero's acquisition of Stargate and does not automatically adjust with current market prices.

When is the STG migration deadline?

LayerZero says STG-to-ZRO conversions will remain available until December 15, 2026 and will not be supported after that date. Individual exchanges may stop supporting STG earlier.

Is Stargate Finance shutting down?

No. The retirement of STG is not the same as a shutdown of Stargate. Stargate continues to operate as a LayerZero product and continues to receive operational and product updates.

Will Binance automatically convert STG to ZRO?

Binance says it will support the token merge and handle the technical requirements for affected users holding STG on the platform. Its published schedule ends STG/USDT spot trading on October 6, 2026 at 03:00 UTC and suspends STG deposits and withdrawals at 03:30 UTC.

Can STG still exist after the deadline?

LayerZero's announcement says conversions will no longer be supported after December 15. That does not necessarily mean every STG token technically disappears from blockchain addresses on that date. The important point is that holders should not assume the official conversion route will remain available afterward.

Why is STG being replaced by ZRO?

The change follows LayerZero's acquisition of Stargate. Rather than maintaining separate long-term token economies for Stargate and LayerZero, the post-acquisition structure consolidates Stargate more directly into the LayerZero ecosystem, with ZRO serving as the surviving token.