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TL;DR The ZetaChain Lightning upgrade kicks off our long-term roadmap to power real-time Universal Apps with the fastest cross-chain transactions (CCTXs) in the industry without compromising decentralization.

At ZetaChain, our mission is to build a Universal Blockchain with native access to any blockchain, making crypto as accessible, diverse, and connected as the internet. With the Lightning upgrade, we’re reducing block times, expanding chain support, and laying the foundation for the fastest decentralized cross-chain transactions (CCTXs) available. Lightning lets you build real-time, composable Universal Apps once, and launch to people everywhere — native Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Sui, TON, and beyond.

Key Highlights

• Targeting 70% faster block times: ZetaChain Lightning (V31) reduces block finality from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Our goal is to eventually reach ~2 seconds.

• Broader chain support for Universal Apps: New support for Solana smart contract triggering (mainnet) and TON chain support (testnet) expands what Universal Apps can do across chains.

• Faster, more expressive CCTXs (like native BTC → purchase Solana NFT): Upgrades like signature caching, gas bumping, and instruction parsing improve speed and reliability of CCTXs.

• No compromise on decentralization: ZetaChain maintains a fully decentralized validator set with no centralized sequencers or custodial bridges. Our ecosystem is developing fast intent-based systems like Speedrun and other off-chain UX layers to meet developer trust preferences.

• Pioneering Threshold BLS in cross-chain: ZetaChain is the first cross-chain L1 exploring Threshold BLS to dramatically improve CCTX throughput without compromising validator decentralization. Read more in ZIP-9.

What’s New in ZetaChain Lightning

70% Faster Block Times (6s → 2s) without compromising decentralization

Thanks to an upgrade to CometBFT consensus parameters, ZetaChain now finalizes blocks in 4 seconds (down from 6), with a target of ~2 seconds through future consensus optimizations. These improvements push ZetaChain’s Universal Blockchain experience closer to a web-like UX, without trading off decentralization like many L2s and sidechains do.

Table: Block Times of ZetaChain and Supported Chains

Unlike many fast chains that trade off security or use centralized actors, ZetaChain is committed to delivering true cross-chain performance backed by decentralized trust. That’s why we’re exploring upgrades like Threshold BLS Signatures (see ZIP-9) to accelerate signing without compromising ZetaChain’s core components and decentralization.

💡 Why block time matters: ZetaChain directly connects external chains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, each with their own finality speeds. By speeding up consensus on its own Universal EVM, ZetaChain ensures faster Universal App execution on ZetaChain, regardless of where a user starts their transaction.

Compose Universal Apps with Solana smart contracts: Buy Solana Memecoins from EVM Wallets

ZetaChain now supports withdrawAndCall for Solana, allowing Universal Apps to call native Solana programs from any connected chain. You can now buy Solana tokens directly using ETH, USDC, or other EVM tokens without bridging or switching chains.

💡 Example Universal App: Random.meme supports the ability to buy a diversified portfolio of coins (memes, RWA, DePin, Etc.) across chains in one click, soon including Solana. Start from Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Avalanche, ZetaChain, Etc. and interact without switching networks.

Check out our ZetaDocs to get started building Universal Apps with Solana.

Universal TON Testnet Support

Following our announcement earlier this year, ZetaChain now supports basic native TON support on testnet. With a router contract, users can deposit TON and call app contracts on any connected chain, including Ethereum or Solana, directly from their TON wallet.

Check out our ZetaDocs to get started building Universal Apps with TON.

Other Core Upgrades in ZetaChain Lightning

Beyond faster block times and new chain support, ZetaChain Lightning introduces several important technical upgrades that improve reliability, developer experience, and cross-chain functionality. See the full V31 changelog.

Performance & Throughput

• TSS Signature Caching: Speeds up CCTXs by caching threshold signatures across zetaclient.

• Global TSS Rate Limiting: Prevents overloads in threshold signing by enforcing system-wide limits on request frequency.

Cross-Chain Feature Expansion

• Bitcoin Gas Bumping (RBF): Enables retrying stuck BTC transactions with higher fees — essential for high-traffic periods.

• Enhanced Solana Instruction Parsing: Parses nested Solana instructions, unlocking more expressive Universal App logic.

• Revert Support for Solana Inbounds: Lets developers define custom fallback logic for failed Solana deposits.

• Improved SUI Payload Handling: Adds validation and rejection logic for Sui cross-chain messages.

• Sui withdrawAndCall v1 Support (Testnet): Early support for triggering Sui smart contracts from Universal Apps — foundational for full programmability.

Developer Experience

• Proper Sender Address on Non-EVM Deposits: Ensures accurate attribution for deposits from non-EVM chains like Bitcoin and TON.

• General DevEx Upgrades: Includes improvements to error handling, logging, and contract interaction flows.

What Comes to Next?

ZetaChain Lightning is just the beginning. It brings major improvements in cross-chain UX, native Bitcoin supported apps, and composability across the top chain ecosystems. Future upgrades include mainnet support for important chains like Sui and TON as well as new features that enhance the Universal App development and user experience.

While reducing block times (eventually to ~2s) brings us closer to a web-like user experience, we recognize that true “real-time” cross-chain execution like that of intent-based messaging between chains is fundamentally constrained by the speed of external networks. We’ll never make Bitcoin produce blocks faster!

What we can do is make ZetaChain the fastest and most reliable trust layer across chains without compromising decentralization. Our core design preserves decentralized validation, and we’re exploring advanced features like Threshold BLS signatures (ZIP-9) to push CCTX performance even further.

About ZetaChain

ZetaChain is the first Universal Blockchain with native access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and more, offering seamless user experience and unified liquidity to the next billions of users. With its Universal EVM, ZetaChain empowers developers to build Universal Apps that operate natively across any blockchain, creating a fluid crypto ecosystem from a single platform.

Follow ZetaChain on Twitter @zetablockchain and join the conversation on Discord and Telegram. Reach out to [email protected] if you’re building on top of ZetaChain.

Any projects mentioned are 3rd party, not ZetaChain.

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