On June 20, 2026, 00:00 UTC, ZRO holders will participate in the fourth fee switch referendum.

This referendum, occurring every six months, gives ZRO token holders an opportunity to decide whether to activate the protocol fee switch. If approved, protocol fees would be used to buy back and burn ZRO.

Here’s what you need to know about fee switch referendum #4.

What is LayerZero?

LayerZero is the leading interoperability protocol. As of June 2026, the protocol has achieved the following milestones:

• $270+ billion in historical value transferred across chains.
• 170+ blockchains supported, including Ethereum, L2s, Solana, Aptos, and more.
• 161 million+ historical messages sent across chains.
• 830+ assets and teams use LayerZero including billion dollar assets like WBTC, USDT0, USDe, as well as teams like EtherFi, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, PayPal USD, Ondo, and more.

Fee Switch Referendum

The fee switch referendum poses a single question to ZRO holders: “Turn the protocol fee switch on?”

• A “Yes” vote means activating the protocol fee.
• A “No” vote means keeping the fee off.

If the “Yes” option prevails (and quorum is met), LayerZero will begin charging a protocol fee on each message. The protocol fee is up to the cost of message verification and execution.

• For example, if a message transfer between Chain A and Chain B incurs $0.01 in DVN and Executor fees, an additional $0.01 protocol fee could be charged as well.
• The total cost for a LayerZero message would be DVN and Executor fees plus the protocol fee.

If the vote results in “No” (or if quorum is not reached), the protocol fee will remain inactive. In that case, the LayerZero network will continue operating and the question of the fee switch will be revisited in six months with a decreased quorum.

Key Voting Parameters

• Quorum: 30.85% of circulating ZRO must be met for the vote to be valid.
• Eligibility: 403,400,140 ZRO is eligible to vote. Voting power is determined by the voter’s ZRO balance at vote start, requiring a minimum holding period of 20 minutes prior to vote start. All LayerZero Labs, LayerZero Foundation, and affiliated persons will abstain from voting.
• Threshold: A simple majority (>50%) of the votes cast if quorum is met.
• Voting Window: June 20, 2026, 00:00 UTC — June 27, 2026, 00:00 UTC

To vote, connect your wallet on the official layerzero.foundation website during the voting window. Your aggregated ZRO holdings across all supported chains (Ethereum, L2s, etc.) will be used to vote in a single transaction.

Dynamic Quorum Model

Quorum started at 60% for Fee Switch Referendum 1 and decreases based on voter turnout and alignment until it reaches a floor of 20%.

Quorum Formula*

*Note — This quorum formula was determined in Fee Switch Referendum #3.

Conclusion

This fourth fee switch referendum is an opportunity for ZRO holders to shape LayerZero’s economic model.

The Foundation thanks the community for its ongoing engagement and looks forward to the outcome of this referendum. We remain dedicated to supporting the LayerZero network’s growth in a way that aligns incentives between users, developers, and token holders.

Disclaimers

This announcement is provided solely for community information and does not constitute (i) an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security, (ii) investment, tax, or legal advice, or (iii) an invitation or inducement to engage in any activity in any jurisdiction where such activity may be unlawful. Governance participants should have no expectation of profit; ZRO is intended to facilitate network operations and governance. Forward-looking statements, including those regarding future token supply, network adoption, or regulatory posture — are inherently uncertain and subject to change based on technological, market, and legal developments.

Fee Switch Referendum #4 was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On December 20, 2025, 00:00 UTC, ZRO holders will participate in the third fee switch referendum.

This referendum, occurring every six months, gives ZRO token holders an opportunity to decide whether to activate the protocol fee switch. If approved, protocol fees would be used to buy back and burn ZRO.

Here’s what you need to know about fee switch referendum #3.

What is LayerZero?

LayerZero is the leading interoperability protocol. As of December 2025, the protocol has achieved the following milestones:

• $200+ billion in historical value transferred across chains.
• 150+ blockchains supported, including Ethereum, L2s, Solana, Aptos, and more.
• 157 million+ historical messages sent across chains.
• 700+ assets and teams use LayerZero including billion dollar assets like WBTC, USDT0, USDe, as well as teams like EtherFi, Deutsche Telekom, Google Cloud, PayPal USD, Ondo, and more.

Fee Switch Referendum

The fee switch referendum poses a single question to ZRO holders: “Turn the protocol fee switch on?”

• A “Yes” vote means activating the protocol fee.
• A “No” vote means keeping the fee off.

If the “Yes” option prevails (and quorum is met), LayerZero will begin charging a protocol fee on each message. The protocol fee is up to the cost of message verification and execution.

• For example, if a message transfer between Chain A and Chain B incurs $0.01 in DVN and Executor fees, an additional $0.01 protocol fee could be charged as well.
• The total cost for a LayerZero message would be DVN and Executor fees plus the protocol fee.

If the vote results in “No” (or if quorum is not reached), the protocol fee will remain inactive. In that case, the LayerZero network will continue operating and the question of the fee switch will be revisited in six months with a decreased quorum.

Key Voting Parameters

• Quorum: 40.59% of circulating ZRO must be met for the vote to be valid.
• Eligibility: 230,236,984 ZRO is eligible to vote. All LayerZero Labs, LayerZero Foundation, and affiliated persons will abstain from voting.
• Threshold: A simple majority (>50%) of the votes cast if quorum is met.
• Voting Window: December 20, 2025, 00:00 UTC — December 27, 2025, 00:00 UTC

To vote, connect your wallet on the official layerzero.foundation website during the voting window. Your aggregated ZRO holdings across all supported chains (Ethereum, L2s, etc.) will be used to vote in a single transaction.

Update: Dynamic Quorum Model

Quorum started at 60% for Fee Switch Referendum 1 and decreases based on voter turnout and alignment until it reaches a floor of 20%.

Quorum Formula*

*Note — To counteract time-based change, the quorum formula has been updated so decay is influenced more by voter alignment and sentiment rather than time. The previous VoteIndex parameter is now set at a constant factor of “1” and the Decay parameter now ensures a minimum of 5% and maximum of 10% change to quorum going forward.

Conclusion

This third fee switch referendum is an opportunity for ZRO holders to shape LayerZero’s economic model.

The Foundation thanks the community for its ongoing engagement and looks forward to the outcome of this referendum. We remain dedicated to supporting the LayerZero network’s growth in a way that aligns incentives between users, developers, and token holders.

Disclaimers

This announcement is provided solely for community information and does not constitute (i) an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security, (ii) investment, tax, or legal advice, or (iii) an invitation or inducement to engage in any activity in any jurisdiction where such activity may be unlawful. Governance participants should have no expectation of profit; ZRO is intended to facilitate network operations and governance. Forward-looking statements, including those regarding future token supply, network adoption, or regulatory posture — are inherently uncertain and subject to change based on technological, market, and legal developments.

Fee Switch Referendum #3 was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On June 20, 2025, 00:00 UTC, ZRO holders will participate in the second fee switch referendum.

This referendum, occurring every six months, gives ZRO token holders an opportunity to decide whether to activate the protocol fee switch.

If approved, protocol fees would be used to buy back and burn ZRO, permanently reducing its circulating supply.

This announcement outlines the LayerZero protocol, the proposal’s specifics, the newly introduced dynamic quorum model, and voting instructions.

What is LayerZero?

LayerZero is the leading interoperability protocol, accounting for roughly 70% of messages moving between chains in 2025. Asset transfers continue to drive the bulk of messaging volume at $5B per month — with LayerZero’s OFT standard leading as the most widely adopted crosschain token standard.

As of June 2025, the protocol has achieved the following milestones:

• $100+ billion in historical value transferred across chains.
• 130+ blockchains supported, including Ethereum, L2s, Solana, Aptos, and more.
• 150 million+ historical messages sent across chains.
• 250+ assets issued as Omnichain Fungible Tokens (OFTs), including billion dollar assets like WBTC, USDT0, USDe, and more.
• 500+ applications and companies using the network, including EtherFi, Stargate, Deutsche Telekom, Pendle, Google Cloud, PayPal USD, Ondo, and more.

Fee Switch Referendum

The fee switch referendum poses a single question to ZRO holders: “Turn the protocol fee switch on?”

• A “Yes” vote means activating the protocol fee.
• A “No” vote means keeping the fee off.

If the Yes option prevails (and quorum is met), LayerZero will begin charging a protocol fee on each omnichain message, effective shortly after the referendum concludes.

The protocol fee is up to the cost of message verification and execution.

• For example, if a message transfer between Chain A and Chain B incurs $0.01 in DVN and Executor fees, an additional $0.01 protocol fee could be charged as well.
• The total cost for a LayerZero message would be DVN and Executor fees plus the protocol fee.

If the vote results in “No” (or if quorum is not reached), the protocol fee will remain inactive. In that case, no fees will be collected for burning, and ZRO’s supply will remain unchanged by this mechanism. The LayerZero network will continue operating and the question of the fee switch will be revisited in six months with a decreased quorum.

ZRO Burn Mechanism

All protocol fees would be sent to the Treasury contract, which periodically uses collected fees to buy ZRO on the open market and burn it, permanently removing those tokens from circulation.

This mechanism directly links network usage to ZRO’s supply: the more messages sent across the protocol, the more ZRO could be bought back and destroyed.

Key Voting Parameters

Below are the key details and instructions for the June 20, 2025 Referendum:

• Eligible Voting Power: Only tokens distributed at TGE last June are eligible to vote. For the June 20, 2025 referendum, total eligible voting power is 109,954,999 ZRO, consistent with the eligibility criteria used in the first referendum.
• Quorum Requirement: 50.40% of circulating ZRO, or at least 55,417,319.50 ZRO, must participate (vote “Yes” or “No”) for the referendum to be considered valid. If this quorum is not met, the vote will be declared invalid and the protocol fee will remain off by default (status quo).
• Voting Window: June 20, 2025, 00:00 UTC — June 27, 2025, 00:00 UTC. The referendum will run for a full seven days.
• How to Vote: ZRO holders can only vote through the official LayerZero Foundation website (https://layerzero.foundation/). Visit the LayerZero.Foundation website during the voting window and connect your wallet. The interface will automatically calculate your total ZRO holdings across all supported chains using lzRead. You will be able to cast your vote (Yes or No) with your entire aggregated ZRO balance in a single transaction, regardless of which chain your tokens reside on.

Update: Dynamic Quorum Model

In the initial December 2024 vote, the quorum was 60% of the circulating ZRO supply and was set to decrease by 5% in each subsequent referendum. However, only 11% of the circulating supply participated in Referendum #1, and as a result, the proposal could not pass despite overwhelming positive support (96% yes).

In response to results from the first referendum, a new dynamic quorum formula is being introduced.

Going forward, instead of a hard 60% flat quorum that decreases by 5% after each vote, the required participation level adjusts based on voter turnout and alignment.

This new model sets quorum at 50.40% of the circulating supply for the June 20–27 2025 vote.

The quorum change only decreases the participation necessary to validate the vote — not the majority needed to decide the outcome. The threshold for “Yes” vs “No” remains a simple >50% of the votes cast. This ensures the referendum reflects both a wide participation of the token base and a majority preference of those who participate.

The Math Behind the Dynamic Quorum

The dynamic quorum formula takes into account two main components to better reflect previous voting outcomes:

• Turnout Factor: A factor that accounts for voter turnout in previous votes. If prior voter turnout was high, this factor lowers the quorum threshold for the next referendum.
• Alignment Factor: This factor considers the degree of consensus among the participating voters in previous votes. A strong majority alignment (for example, if an overwhelming percentage of the votes cast were in favor of the proposal) results in a lower quorum in the next round.

Formula Explanation

Where:

Quorum %: quorum threshold from the previous vote

• Starts at 60% for Vote #1

Decay: Decay=min(d⋅Delta, decay floor)

• Where d is the decay rate = 5%

Delta (Δ)=Vote Index+TurnoutFactor+AlignmentFactor

• VoteIndex starts at 0 for vote #1, 1 for vote #2, etc.
• TurnoutFactor={1,​if turnout≥50% of quorum basis (from prev. vote), 0, otherwise}​

AlignmentFactor: AlignmentFactor=2⋅​ ( Yes%100–0.5)​​

• Ranges from -1 (100% “No”) to 1 (100% “Yes”)
• Strong “Yes” alignment → decrease quorum
• Strong “No” alignment → increase quorum

Decay = the maximum allowed quorum decay per vote (in %) = 10%

• Floor: minimum quorum threshold = 20%
• Ceiling: maximum quorum threshold = 60%

Next Steps

• If the Yes vote meets the quorum and majority thresholds, the LayerZero Foundation will publish a follow-up announcement confirming the outcome and detailing the implementation timeline (if applicable). The protocol fee will be turned on shortly thereafter, and the first ZRO burn will begin.
• If the vote does not pass (due to insufficient quorum or a majority “No” outcome), the fee switch will remain off, and per the governance framework, the referendum will be scheduled to be revisited after another six-month interval. The dynamic quorum model will continue to adjust as needed, to ensure that future governance reflects the evolving engagement of the community.

Conclusion

This second fee switch referendum is an opportunity for ZRO holders to shape LayerZero’s economic model.

The Foundation thanks the community for its ongoing engagement and looks forward to the outcome of this referendum. We remain dedicated to supporting the LayerZero network’s growth in a way that aligns incentives between users, developers, and token holders, ensuring the continued success of the omnichain future.

Disclaimers

This announcement is provided solely for community information and does not constitute (i) an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security, (ii) investment, tax, or legal advice, or (iii) an invitation or inducement to engage in any activity in any jurisdiction where such activity may be unlawful. Governance participants should have no expectation of profit; ZRO is intended to facilitate network operations and governance. Forward-looking statements, including those regarding future token supply, network adoption, or regulatory posture — are inherently uncertain and subject to change based on technological, market, and legal developments.

Fee Switch Referendum #2 was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On December 20, 2024, 00:00 UTC ZRO holders will participate in the first fee switch referendum. This vote determines whether LayerZero starts charging a protocol fee for each message.

Here’s what you need to know about the referendum, how it works, and how you can participate.

What Is the Fee Switch Referendum?

The fee switch referendum is an onchain vote held every six months, allowing ZRO holders to decide whether to activate the protocol fee.

This protocol fee is equal to the total DVN and Executor fees charged for verification and execution of each LayerZero message. The collected protocol fees are used to buy back and burn ZRO, reducing its circulating supply.

Example Fee Breakdown (If Protocol Fee Is Activated)

• A message between Arbitrum and Optimism costs $0.01 in DVN/Executor fees.
• An additional $0.01 protocol fee is charged, bringing the total cost to $0.02.
• The $0.01 protocol fee is collected in the Treasury Contract, which periodically buys back and burns ZRO.

How Voting in the Referendum Works

The referendum centers on a single question:

“Turn the fee switch on?”

• “Yes” to activate the protocol fee.
• “No” to keep the protocol fee inactive.

ZRO holders can vote here: layerzero.foundation

LayerZero uses lzRead to make governance seamless for ZRO holders, enabling them to vote with their total ZRO balance across chains in a single transaction.

Here’s how the process works:

1. Snapshot: A snapshot of ZRO balances is taken twenty minutes before the referendum begins and at the start of the voting period. The lower balance between these snapshots determines a holder’s voting power, preventing in-flight ZRO transfers from being double-counted.
2. Voting: ZRO exists on Ethereum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum. When a vote is cast, lzRead aggregates the user’s total ZRO balance across all supported chains. Voting power is calculated based on this combined amount. The vote is then delivered to Arbitrum via LayerZero.
3. Settlement: All votes are recorded on the hub chain, which for this referendum is Arbitrum.

Example Voting Flow

A user holds 100 ZRO on BNB Chain and 1,000 ZRO Base but votes from Polygon using MATIC. When they vote “Yes” or “No”, lzRead fetches their ZRO balance across chains, calculates their voting power (1,100 ZRO) and sends the result to the hub chain.

Key Voting Parameters

The referendum is decided by holders of the circulating supply of ZRO. Tokens distributed through the Community Allocation for both “Retroactive Initiatives” (83,283,110 ZRO) and “Ecosystem and Growth” (26,664,139 ZRO) make up the voting pool.

• Total Voting Power: Based on the circulating supply of 109,947,249 ZRO.
• Quorum Requirement: At least 60% of the circulating supply (≥65,968,349.4 ZRO) must vote for the referendum to be valid. If quorum is not met, the fee switch defaults to “No.”
• Threshold for Passing: If quorum is met, a simple majority (>50%) of votes cast for either “Yes” or “No” determine the referendum outcome.
• Voting Period: The referendum will last for seven days, starting on December 20, 2024, 00:00 UTC, and ending on December 27, 2024 00:00 UTC.

What to Expect Next

The vote begins on December 20, 2024, and will last seven days.

You can vote by following this link: layerzero.foundation

Vote “Yes” to turn on the fee switch or vote “No” for the fee switch to remain off.

The fee switch referendum will occur every six months, allowing ZRO holders to regularly reassess and adapt the protocol fee to align with the evolving needs of LayerZero. If quorum is not met, the voting requirement of circulating supply decreases by 5% per subsequent vote (down to a floor of 20%).

About LayerZero Foundation

The LayerZero Foundation is a not-for-profit entity. Its mission is to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the LayerZero protocol and the LayerZero ecosystem.

For questions about the fee switch referendum, join the LayerZero Discord.

Fee Switch Referendum was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

LayerZero Foundation is launching lzCatalyst, a program dedicated to connecting the best builders with the best venture capital firms in crypto.

As lzCatalyst launch partners, a16z Crypto, Animoca Brands, Atrum, Delphi Ventures, Faction, Franklin Templeton, King River, Lightspeed, PayPal Ventures, and Spartan have the option to invest up to $300M to support the development of novel omnichain applications built on LayerZero.

Interested teams building on LayerZero can apply here.

Interested in becoming an lzCatalyst partner fund? Reach out here.

The lzCatalyst initiative is designed to empower developers with access to significant capital and resources. Participating funds are incentivized to directly invest up to $300 million into projects integrating LayerZero, but will independently maintain their respective diligence and investment processes. Projects that receive meaningful investment from one partner fund or participation from 2+ partner funds in a given round will be eligible to receive additional strategic capital investment directly from the LayerZero Foundation.

Stay tuned for more updates on lzCatalyst.

About LayerZero

LayerZero is the leading omnichain messaging protocol for a diverse set of crypto applications, including bridges, decentralized exchanges, games, tokens, and NFTs. Hundreds of applications, including Ethena, EtherFi, and Stargate, rely on LayerZero for their cross-chain messaging use-cases.

For more information on LayerZero, check out our docs, read this article, or visit the website. For additional information, the LayerZero Foundation team is available to answer general questions on Discord and Telegram. You can also follow LayerZero Foundation on X to receive the most up-to-date information.

lzCatalyst was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Since Uniswap pioneered the mechanism in 2020, airdrops have predominantly been how protocols and applications distribute tokens to end-users. It has now been four years, and airdrops are still the default tool for initial token distribution — despite evidence that free tokens don’t lead to durable protocol usage over a long-term time horizon.

Specifically, in the last year, airdrops have faced significant challenges due to Sybil entities that create multiple addresses to claim more tokens than intended, resulting in token recipients with little to no interest in the project’s long-term success. Furthermore, a culture of airdrop farming has arisen across DeFi, leading to mercenary capital flowing from one recently tokenized project to the next no-token project.

This undermines the goals of equitable distribution, community building, and protocol health, which airdrops were initially introduced to solve. While neither Sybil activity nor airdrop farming is inherently bad, such activity does not contribute to a protocol’s long-term success, which, in LayerZero’s case, is dependent on developers building omnichain applications like tokens, lending markets, bridges, identity solutions, and much more for durable users to interact with.

Therefore, as LayerZero has approached TGE, the term “airdrop” has not been used regarding ZRO distribution for a specific reason: this is not an airdrop.

Introducing Proof-of-Donation

LayerZero is introducing a new claiming mechanism called Proof-of-Donation, which will result in up to $18.5 million donated to Protocol Guild, a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum’s Layer 1 R&D developers.

To claim ZRO, users must donate $0.10 in USDC, USDT, or native ETH per ZRO. This small donation goes directly to Protocol Guild, which is a not-for-profit collective of Ethereum’s core researchers and developers. The donations received by Protocol Guild will be vested over a four-year period, as per Protocol Guild’s on-chain contracts. The LayerZero Foundation is matching all donations, up to $10 million.

Protocol Guild and Ethereum’s core developers have been fundamental to LayerZero’s growth, driving the proliferation of the EVM, Ethereum’s L2-centric roadmap, and the broader crypto ecosystem. By donating to Protocol Guild, eligible recipients show long-term alignment with the LayerZero protocol and a commitment to the future of crypto.

ZRO Claim Details

ZRO claim goes live on June 20 at 11:00 am UTC.

Claim Details

• Claim Page Link: Go to https://layerzero.foundation/claim. Ensure the URL is correct to avoid scams.
• Supported Chains: Eligible users can claim from Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Avalanche. Please note that claiming from all chains will require a LayerZero message with the exception of Arbitrum, which for this contract is the coordination chain and will process claims atomically.
• Supported Tokens: You can donate to Protocol Guild using USDC, USDT, or native ETH. Transactions will require gas on the source chain of your choice.
• Claim Duration: Claims are open from June 20 through September 20.
• ZRO Transfers: Once claimed, holders may transfer ZRO between the 7 chains listed above via Stargate.

FAQ

• Am I eligible to claim? Check your allocation on the LZ Rewind Checker.
• How many tokens are going out now? 85,000,000 ZRO are available to claim. Full tokenomics can be found here.
• Do I have to donate to claim? Yes. All eligible users must donate $0.10 in USDC, USDT, or native ETH to claim their ZRO allocation.
• What happens to unclaimed ZRO? All unclaimed ZRO will be redistributed back to LayerZero core users after the end of the claim process.

The only official link will be tweeted by @LayerZero_Fndn.

Links will go live as close to 11:00 am UTC as possible. Any other links are scams. Stay vigilant and secure your assets.

Thank you for being a part of LayerZero.

ZRO Claim was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

ZRO is the native asset of the LayerZero protocol. Claims open on June 20 at 11:00 AM UTC. Check eligibility here.

LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol that supports censorship-resistant messages and permissionless development through immutable smart contracts called Endpoints.

The protocol exists in perpetuity. Anyone can use it. No one can tamper with the data packets it moves between chains.

Implementing these principles into a production build is challenging, but the results speak for themselves. Since the V1 release in 2022 and the V2 launch in 2024, hundreds of developers have built applications and thousands of users have interacted with the protocol, resulting in over 200 applications sending more than 130 million messages and $50 billion in volume across 70+ blockchains.

The launch of ZRO marks a pivotal step for the protocol: making it publicly owned, immutable infrastructure.

This post provides an in-depth understanding of ZRO, including tokenomics, token mechanics, and eligibility.

Supply

The ZRO supply is fixed at 1 billion tokens.

The allocation breakdown is as follows:

• 38.3% to LayerZero Community, which includes distributions to users, developers, and community members
• 32.2% to Strategic Partners with 3-year unlock, which includes investors and advisors
• 25.5% to Core Contributors with 3-year vesting, which includes current and future team members
• 4.0% Tokens Repurchased, which is pledged to the Community

Community Allocation — 383,000,000 ZRO

LayerZero’s success is mainly due to the developers who build flagship crypto applications and users who actively interact with the protocol. These early members have made immense contributions and are perfectly suited to be stewards of LayerZero’s future.

The community token allocation is intended to reward early, current, and future durable developers and users of LayerZero while growing the LayerZero ecosystem.

The 38.3% ‘383,000,000’ ZRO community allocation is broken down into the following time-classified subcategories:

• Retroactive Initiatives: 8.5% of ZRO supply can be claimed by eligible participants on June 20. (More on eligibility later.)
• Future Initiatives: 15.3% of ZRO supply is reserved for direct future distributions to users, protocols, infrastructure builders, and community members through future Snapshots and methods such as RFPs. At launch, 11.5% of ZRO supply is unlocked from this bucket, and distribution will start with the new Discord community program that will utilize 5,000,000 ZRO.
• Ecosystem and Growth: 14.5% of ZRO supply will be managed by LayerZero Foundation. At launch, 5% of ZRO supply is unlocked from this bucket to be used for ecosystem growth, grants programs, and liquidity provisioning.

Strategic Partners — 322,000,000 ZRO

Strategic Partners, which include investors and advisors, are subject to a three-year vesting period with a one-year lock and a monthly unlock over the following two years.

Core Contributors — 255,000,000 ZRO

Core Contributors, including current and future LayerZero Labs employees, are subject to a three-year vesting period, including a one-year lock and a monthly unlock over the following two years.

Tokens Repurchased — 40,000,000 ZRO

4.0% of the ZRO supply has been repurchased by LayerZero Labs and is pledged to the community bucket.

ZRO holders will always control protocol fee accrual.

An immutable voting contract enforces a public onchain referendum every six months, allowing ZRO holders to vote on activating or deactivating the protocol’s fee switch.

The LayerZero protocol may charge a fee equal to the aggregate cost of verification and execution of a cross-chain message. For instance, if an application’s selected configuration of DVNs and Executors charges $0.01 for a transaction between Arbitrum and Optimism, LayerZero could also charge a $0.01 fee.

If the fee switch is activated through governance, the referendum Treasury Contract collects fees on the local chain and burns them.

ZRO voting is simple: autonomous, onchain, and immutable — enabling holders to turn on or turn off the fee switch of the protocol by simply signalling from the chain they hold ZRO on.

LayerZero is one of the most used and farmed protocols of all time: nearly 6 million unique wallet addresses have interacted with the protocol, and developers have deployed over 54,000 OApp contracts. This made initial token distribution challenging to get correct.

While all volume has contributed to the protocol, it is necessary to ensure that durable users are rewarded and maximally aligned with the protocol. Durable users are defined as those most likely to continue to use the protocol or repeat past actions in the future. Identifying and aligning these users required implementing several processes before claims. This included Sybil filtering, Protocol RFP, and eligibility criteria.

The primary issue with ‘perfecting’ the distribution lies in the gap between expectation and reality, often leading to dissatisfaction among participants. A significant number of users have interacted with LayerZero, with varying levels of activity. For example, 957,640 users have made more than 50 transactions, 227,410 users have made over 100 transactions, and 1,075,590 users have interacted with more than 15 chains. Moreover, LayerZero approved 211 Protocol RFPs. Each protocol had unique distribution needs, making a one-size-fits-all distribution approach unfeasible.

Balancing all of these requirements across the scale of LayerZero’s network was incredibly challenging. While the ZRO distribution is not perfect, we think it is correct: rewarding durable users in a way that maximally aligns them with the LayerZero protocol going forward.

The following outlines our eligibility process for the first ZRO token distribution event.

Sybil Filtering

In the first phase, Sybil users were given a 14-day period to self-report and receive 15% of their intended allocation. After this period, any Sybil users who did not report and were identified in the initial Sybil report conducted by LayerZero Foundation, Chaos Labs, and Nansen received nothing. In the second phase, bounty hunters could report Sybil activities and earn a 10% reward of the identified addresses’ intended allocation. After the bounty hunting concluded, Chaos Labs and Nansen continued to work with LayerZero Foundation to further filter out Sybils from token distribution.

Through bounty hunting, self-reporting, and collaboration with Nansen and Chaos Labs, ~10,000,000 ZRO (~1% of the total supply) was saved from being allocated to Sybil addresses.

Request for Proposal (RFP)

The Protocol RFP was for projects that deployed OApp, OFT, or ONFT contracts on mainnet before Snapshot #1. This process allowed teams to distribute their ZRO allocation to their respective communities in the most value-accretive way.

Overall, 230 unique proposals were submitted, each outlining their methodology for end user and developer allocations. Ultimately, 211 proposals were approved, collectively receiving 3% of the total ZRO supply to distribute as they see fit.

Criteria

Final Eligibility was based on many factors for both the Protocol RFP and LayerZero Core portion of the distribution.

Protocol RFP (3%)

Wallets listed in an approved Protocol RFP submission are eligible, with a minimum ZRO allocation of 5 ZRO and a maximum of 10,000 ZRO. Any surplus is returned to their respective RFP group.

Specific protocol allocations are determined based on several factors, including the number of messages sent before and after the snapshot, the number of days since the first message was sent on LayerZero, and the application category (OApp, OFT, ONFT). Developer allocations aim for a 90/10 split, with a maximum of 100,000 ZRO per developer team, and any excess ZRO is distributed among other developers.

Core (5.5%)

The LayerZero Core portion of the distribution is designed to retroactively reward users for their activity on the protocol. Distribution is based on protocol fees paid. All users who transacted before the snapshot are eligible, with a minimum allocation of 25 ZRO and a maximum of 5,000 ZRO. Any amount exceeding these limits is redistributed within the LayerZero Core group.

Specific criteria are as follows:

• Transactions under $1.00 and valueless NFT transactions (very low marketplace value) were deweighted by 80% to prioritize genuine engagement.
• Multipliers were given to early and post-snapshot users to recognize ongoing participation in the protocol.

Checker

You can find the official checker here to see if your address is eligible!

https://www.layerzero.foundation/eligibility

The ZRO distribution process aims to be fair and transparent while supporting contributors retroactively and future growth.

Thank you to the developers, users, and community members who have contributed to the protocol so far.

Next step: Claim ZRO on June 20, 11:00 AM UTC.

The LayerZero Foundation is a not-for-profit entity. Its mission is to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the LayerZero protocol and the LayerZero ecosystem.

Note: Employees and their families are contractually prohibited from claiming ZRO tokens.

Introducing ZRO was originally published in LayerZero Foundation on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.