We're proud to announce that Range has been selected as a genesis validator on the newly launched Union Mainnet - a major milestone in the evolution of decentralized interoperability. 

Union's trustless, zero‑knowledge messaging infrastructure marks a generational leap beyond traditional bridges, and we're honored to play a foundational security role from day one.

What's Union and what makes it different?

Union is a new interoperability protocol that enables secure, consensus-verified cross-chain messaging - without relying on trusted intermediaries or centralized oracles. It launched its mainnet on 4th September 2025, following multiple successful testnets and a record-breaking trusted setup.

Using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), Union is designed for trustless cross‑chain messaging, asset transfers, NFT bridges, and DeFi functionality. This use of zero-knowledge proofs and a novel consensus verification system - rather than relying on centralized relayers, oracles, or multi-sig configurations - ensures data integrity and decentralization. As well as DeFI and asset-related transfers, Union can also be used for cross-chain governance, contract calls, and secure application logic across ecosystems.

Key technical innovations include:

• CometBLS: A BLS‑signature‑based consensus engine optimized for fast, efficient ZK proof generation.

• Galois: Union's ZK consensus proving system, capable of generating proofs efficiently even on consumer‑grade hardware.

• Voyager: Union's native relayer enabling permissionless network integration and proof submission.

Union functions similarly to the IBC (Inter‑Blockchain Communication) protocol but operates trustlessly across all of Web3 using ZK‑powered consensus.

Union's mainnet launch followed an extensive testing and preparation period, during which more than 325 million transfers were completed on its testnets and over $145 million bridged through pre-mainnet infrastructure. At launch, Union included integrations with major ecosystems, including Ethereum, Base, Babylon, Berchain, BNB, Sei, Osmosis, Neutron and many others -  with more connectivity coming soon.

A critical foundation for Union's security was its Groth16 trusted setup, which became the largest of its kind with 5,866 contributors worldwide. Groth16 is a zero-knowledge proof system that enables efficient, succinct proofs for verifying computations without revealing underlying data. To use it securely, the system requires a one-time “trusted setup ceremony,” where participants generate cryptographic parameters and then destroy their secret inputs. If even a single participant behaves honestly, the system remains secure. By reaching thousands of contributors, Union's setup significantly reduced the risk of compromise, thereby strengthening its decentralization and providing a resilient cryptographic foundation for the network.

Alongside the launch, Union introduced its native token, $U, enabling staking, governance, and liquid staking through eU. These primitives now power validator incentives, the dynamic fee market, and cross-chain governance modules that will evolve with the protocol.

Learn more about Union here, or try out their app here. 

Union and Range: Security from the start

As a genesis validator, Range is helping secure the network from its earliest blocks. Our role means ensuring liveness, integrity, and neutrality during Union's most formative period.

For Union, validator selection is about more than performance. It's about trust, operational maturity, and the ability to adapt to the protocol's evolution. That's where Range brings distinctive value - both to Union and to any Proof-of-Stake (PoS) or permissioned chain exploring validator decentralization.

By joining Union's validator set, Range helps deliver:

Credibility and Network Trust
Ecosystems like Solana, Cosmos, Circle, and dYdX already trust Range. Our involvement sends a clear signal: this network is being secured with production-grade infrastructure and independent validators who understand the full risk lifecycle.

Operational Maturity and Performance
We run high-uptime infrastructure across a diverse set of networks, including both PoA and PoS networks, using different VMs. This helps ensure validator responsiveness, zk proof handling, and seamless performance across Union's zk-based messaging framework.

Validator Neutrality and Ecosystem Alignment
Our role is to secure and observe - not to extract or control. By acting as a neutral, non-aligned validator, Range reduces concentration risk while reinforcing the network's ability to remain credibly neutral and permissionless as it scales.

A Long-Term Partner, Not Just a Bootstrapper
Range is not a one-time participant. We support projects from early bootstrapping through to scaling, monitoring, incident response, and compliance tooling. Our presence in a validator set is a long-term investment in protocol resilience.

This matters for Union - but it also matters for the next wave of PoA chains looking to evolve toward credible neutrality. As new networks move from closed operation to shared governance, selecting validators like Range provides a clear path to decentralized trust without compromising security or uptime.

Highlights of Union use cases

A key point to note about Union, is that it is not just a bridge - it's a programmable messaging layer, enabling all kinds of coordination across chains, apps, and user environments. Below are a few of the key use cases and features Union supports today or plans to ship shortly:

• Cross‑chain DeFi & Asset Movement: Trustless transfers, swaps, and AMMs that work across chains without wrapped assets.

• Cross-Ecosystem Messaging: Supports contract calls between L1s, rollups, and appchains - without requiring shared execution environments

• Chain Abstraction: Enables developers to build without needing users to switch networks manually

• zk Infrastructure for Bitcoin & Solana: Including Bitcoin bridges (via BitVMX) and Solana messaging (via Rome Protocol)

• Identity and Governance: uname (a cross-chain identity layer) and $U-based onchain governance are already live

• DeFi and Liquidity Routing: Solvers, aggregators, and routing engines built natively on Union's messaging protocol.

As this infrastructure matures, we expect Union to become a core primitive in the modular, multi-chain stack, especially as new rollups, appchains, and L2s demand more seamless and secure interoperability.

For developers, security teams, and compliance operations, Range provides the observability and operational trust layer needed to integrate these features into production with confidence.

Genesis validator for your chain

Range's participation as a genesis validator on Union demonstrates a commitment to supporting the protocol from its earliest stages and contributing to its long-term stability. Validator selection is a crucial aspect of network design, and involving experienced and neutral operators helps establish a strong foundation for growth.

Teams launching new PoA or PoS networks can benefit from including validators with proven operational and security expertise. For developers building on Union, Range provides monitoring, risk detection, and wallet security tools that improve safety and visibility across the ecosystem.

To discuss how Range can participate as a genesis validator on your network, please get in touch.