VeChain: new StarGate staking program with a $15 million bonus in six months

VeChain launched the new staking program StarGate today, supported by a bonus pool of 15 million dollars over six months. The update on the VeChainThor blockchain offers greater rewards and direct staking from the protocol by leveraging NFT technology

VeChain and the update for the new StarGate staking program on VeChainThor

VeChain launched today the new StarGate staking program, through a major update on the VeChainThor blockchain

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StarGate drops 1st July. $VET will never be the same pic.twitter.com/kTXDODClsz

— VeChain (@vechainofficial) June 26, 2025

In practice, the new StarGate staking program is supported by a bonus pool of 15 million dollars over six months. Not only that, this launch comes following the new guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA that clarify the activities of protocol staking.

StarGate offers greater rewards and direct staking from the protocol by leveraging NFT technology.

VeChain and StarGate staking: what happens to VET holders

Among the innovations introduced with StarGate staking, there is a change in participation requirements. In practice, VET holders who own 10,000 VET will be able to participate in the new staking program. This will lead to an improvement in network security in exchange for the possibility of earning a profit

As anticipated, to catalyze the widespread adoption of the new staking model, the VeChain Foundation has committed 5.48 billion VTHO (equivalent to about 15 million dollars) to provide a six-month bonus to the rewards program

The initiative provides enhanced annual percentage yields (APY) to early participants who migrate their existing nodes and stake their VET. Not only that, the nodes will continue to generate higher APY compared to the current iteration, once the 6-month bonus window ends.

Another peculiarity is that the VeChain model is based on NFTs and offers a unique solution, combining regulatory compliance with accessibility, appealing to institutions that are increasingly attracted to the bull and bear cryptocurrency sector.

In this regard, Sunny Lu, CEO and founder of VeChain, commented:

“The recent SEC guidance validates what we have built: a fully compliant and accessible staking model that treats rewards as compensation for network services rather than investment returns. Our innovative approach of leveraging NFTs to represent participation ensures both simplicity for users and full regulatory alignment.”

To participate in StarGate staking, users will need to move their VET into their self-custody wallets, such as VeChain’s VeWorld. Only self-custodied tokens will be eligible to receive the staking NFT required for activation

The first cross-chain bridge and the price of VET

Recently, VeChain has been making headlines for launching its first cross-chain bridge, thanks to the collaboration with Wanchain. The integration has made VeChain operable with over 40 blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Polkadot, and many others.

Not only that, this also allowed for the direct exchange between VET, VTHO, and B3TR, the tokens of VeChainThor with other assets such as BTC, ETH, SOL, USDC, XRP, and WAN

Despite the major news, the price of VET does not seem to rise. At the time of writing, VET is worth $0.02, in a bear dump of -14% compared to a month ago