VeChain Completes Historic Hayabusa Upgrade, Transitions to Public DPoS Consensus

VeChain has successfully activated its Hayabusa upgrade on the mainnet, marking one of the most significant technical transformations in the blockchain's seven-year history. The network has officially transitioned from its traditional Proof-of-Authority (PoA) model to a fully-fledged public Delegated-Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) model. This shift makes validator participation permissionless and open to the general public, enhancing decentralization and economic incentives for community participants.

Minutes after activation, validators produced the first DPoS block, formally ending the permissioned PoA era. VeChain CEO Sunny Lu confirmed the milestone on social media platform X, stating, "hayabusa activated!"

The upgrade introduces a comprehensive new tokenomics model. Under Hayabusa, all rewards from the network's gas token, VeThor (VTHO), are now distributed exclusively to stakers. This change eliminates the passive generation of VTHO by unstaked wallets, particularly those historically built up on exchanges. The project claims this increases the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for active network supporters while reducing the dynamics of circulating supply, creating a more deflationary token environment.

A key feature is the implementation of a 100% base-fee burn mechanism, similar to Ethereum's EIP-1559, alongside priority tip mechanics for validators. This design aims to provide more predictability for developers. VeChain asserts that its new reward system is more efficient than Ethereum's, noting that while Ethereum validators have a staking limit of 32 ETH, VeChain validators can stake up to 600 million VET, which proportionally affects their reward weighting and allows for greater participation flexibility.

Hayabusa represents the second phase of VeChain's multi-stage "Renaissance" technical roadmap. This broader program encompasses Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) upgrades, new developer tooling, governance enhancements, and a modernized gas market tailored for enterprise and consumer applications. The upgrade is also the network's eighth hard fork, continuing a tradition of 100% uptime since its 2017 launch.

Regulatory compliance has been a focal point. VeChain has stated that the technical changes associated with Hayabusa have been reported to and confirmed on the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) register, which is part of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. The company views this alignment as a critical prerequisite for scaling its digital-asset infrastructure within regulated markets.

Concurrently with its technological overhaul, VeChain is expanding its ecosystem through strategic partnerships. The network has announced a collaboration with Rekord, a creator of Digital Product Passports for the EU market, focusing on sustainability and supply-chain tracking to meet regulatory requirements like the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR).

On the consumer front, VeChain's ongoing partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has resulted in the "Build Your Body" fitness app, which rewards users for completing workouts designed by UFC champions. In a significant endorsement, UFC CEO Dana White revealed he purchased $1 million worth of VET tokens and has joined VeChain as an advisor. The platform also reports over 5.5 million users engaged with its ecosystem in the past year, primarily through its VeBetter sustainability platform, and over 350 business applications have launched on its blockchain since inception.