StarGate ( STG ) price surged 10%: Wormhole Foundation entered the bidding war, with an offer that may crush LayerZero's $110 million proposal.

The cross-chain protocol StarGate Finance's native token STG price rebounded strongly over 10% on August 20, rising from a low of $0.1633 to a high of $0.182. This rise is directly attributed to the Wormhole Foundation's formal announcement of its intention to intervene and compete with LayerZero for the acquisition of the StarGate protocol. Wormhole accused LayerZero of seriously undervaluing the protocol with its current $110 million bid and requested to suspend the snapshot vote originally scheduled to end on August 24. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the acquisition details, protocol growth data, and the potential impact on STG prices.

[Price Dynamics: STG rebounds against the trend, with a daily rise exceeding double digits] The price of StarGate has seen a significant rise after the Wormhole Foundation announced its intention to enter a bidding war for the acquisition of the cross-chain protocol. On August 20, the Token STG of StarGate Finance rose over 10% across crypto exchanges, climbing from a low of $0.1633 to $0.182. As the native Token of the cross-chain protocol StarGate, STG had previously dipped due to a broader decline in the cryptocurrency market, with major altcoins plummeting to support levels on Tuesday, August 19. However, as Bitcoin attempted to rebound above $114,000 and Ethereum reclaimed the $4,300 mark, the price of StarGate experienced a short-term rise. The double-digit rise in STG coincided with another development—a key announcement released by the Wormhole Foundation.

【Bidding Background: Wormhole Foundation Halts LayerZero Proposal, Requests to Initiate Bidding Process】 StarGate has attracted the attention of the Wormhole Foundation, an entity supporting the Wormhole ecosystem. Specifically, the foundation believes that if it acquires StarGate instead of LayerZero, it can offer better trading conditions. LayerZero outlined its proposal to acquire StarGate on August 11, and on August 17, StarGate announced that a snapshot for the proposed acquisition had gone live. The terms include a total price of $110 million, with all circulating STG being exchanged for ZRO, adopting a revenue-sharing model, and transitioning StarGate's operations to the LayerZero Foundation. Now, the Wormhole Foundation states that StarGate should suspend the snapshot vote and allow a competitive bidding process, thereby providing a deal that reflects StarGate's value and growth potential. The Wormhole Foundation believes that LayerZero's bid, which values StarGate at $110 million in ZRO (in exchange for approximately $76.47 million in stablecoins and $15.9 million in ETH) and "permanently capturing all future protocol revenues," is too low for StarGate.

【Protocol rise and valuation controversy: $92 million treasury assets become the focus, cross-chain volume surges 10 times】 They pointed out: "The treasury assets alone are approximately $92 million (excluding STG Token), yet the proposed transaction only offers Tokens worth $110 million as consideration, which transfers the assets and ongoing economic upside potential. This does not create an attractive offer, and it gives StarGate's ongoing business an unreasonably low valuation." When requesting a pause on the Snapshot, the platform stated that its request was because STG holders deserve better transaction terms. "The current offer undervalues the protocol's assets, brand, codebase, and team. We are prepared to submit a higher offer, and we believe a competitive process will drive more value for all parties involved," wrote the Wormhole Foundation. The Snapshot vote for StarGate was originally scheduled to end at 00:15 UTC on August 24. The STG Token had traded as high as $4.28 in April 2022 but has struggled to reach those heights since. However, the StarGate protocol has experienced significant growth, with bridging transaction volume increasing tenfold since July 2024, and the protocol's total value locked (TVL) has reached $345 million. StarGate has been deployed on over 80 chains.

Conclusion: The sudden intervention of the Wormhole Foundation has completely changed the fate of the StarGate protocol, placing it at the center of a potential bidding war, which is also the main driving force behind the short-term volatility of the STG price. LayerZero's initial bid of $110 million was questioned for being only slightly higher than the protocol's treasury assets of $92 million (excluding the STG tokens themselves), and was seen as severely underestimating StarGate's brand, technology, team, and its enormous growth potential (a tenfold increase in bridging volume, deployed across 80+ chains). For STG holders, a bidding war is undoubtedly the best scenario, with the potential to significantly enhance the ultimate compensation for their holdings. In the short term, the STG price will remain highly sensitive to any news related to the bidding, especially the final results of the snapshot vote on August 24 or possible decisions to delay. Investors should closely monitor this development, but also be wary of the risk of a pullback if the bidding process encounters obstacles or ultimately fails to achieve a better deal.