TL;DR
- Union launched its public mainnet after three years of development, with active validators on union-1 and more than $145M transferred during the alpha phase.
- The U token is now available through the U Drop and will serve as gas, cover fees in the Dynamic Fee Market, secure the L1, and power network governance.
- The first staking vault has been activated with initial rewards, and the debut of eU, Escher’s liquid token, is on the way along with uname identity registrations.
Union officially launched its public mainnet, marking the start of its zero-knowledge–based blockchain interoperability infrastructure.
The first validators are already producing blocks on union-1, and the U token is available to those who joined the U Drop program. This signals the beginning of a stage aimed at connecting different chains within a scalable, trustless environment.
The network took three years of work from the core team, external contributors, and strategic partners. During the alpha mainnet phase, more than $145 million in assets such as BTC LSTs and BABY were transferred, demonstrating the protocol’s ability to handle secure value transfers before the full launch.
Union’s objective is to tackle blockchain interoperability by integrating applications and users in a unified ecosystem. The mainnet activation sets the stage for adding more chains and expanding use cases that require fast and reliable cross-network connections.
The U token will be the backbone of the system. It will serve as the network’s gas, pay fees in the Dynamic Fee Market, secure the L1, and enable governance. The initial distribution is already available for those who pre-claimed, with another 8% to be released in future incentive programs. Additional resources from the Ecosystem Fund, DAO Treasury, and Foundation will also be deployed to drive the network’s growth.
Staking Activation and Union’s Future Plans
Alongside the launch, the first staking vault went live, with early stakers already earning rewards. In the coming weeks it will open to the public, coinciding with the launch of eU, its liquid staking token developed by Escher, which will also enable unstaking once the service goes live.
Union is also preparing the launch of uname, a crosschain identity system. Registration will open soon, and those who reached the Maximum Benefits milestone in the U Drop will receive a free uname domain with priority access.
Union is moving forward with its goal of building a secure and efficient multichain system. What begins today with validators, staking, and identities is only the first phase of a long-term plan
