On November 25, 2025, ZetaChain rolled out a major upgrade to its ZetaClient component (v37.x) that introduces the ability to bundle multiple EVM calls into a single inbound transaction on its Universal EVM execution environment. This enhancement marks a significant step in cross-chain execution design, empowering developers and users with more expressive and efficient transaction flows.
ZetaChain’s Universal EVM is the execution layer where contracts and coordinated workflows run across multiple chains. Prior to this upgrade, users and applications often had to perform separate actions, often multiple transactions, to carry out complex cross-chain operations. With the multi-call support, a single cross-chain entry point can now trigger multiple smart contract interactions within one unified Universal EVM transaction, simplifying both development and user experience.
Official documentation from ZetaChain confirms this behavior as a deliberate improvement to the protocol’s cross-chain transaction primitives under ZetaClient v37. The GitHub release notes specify that EVM inbound support was changed to allow multiple calls in a single transaction, with associated feature flags and gateway upgrades required for full compatibility.
What This Upgrade Enables in Practice
Instead of requiring separate transactions for each step of a cross-chain workflow, such as depositing assets, swapping, minting, or invoking logic on other chains, users and dApps can now perform:
- Multi-deposit workflows: depositing tokens once but splitting the action into multiple contract calls within the Universal EVM.
- Reduced orchestration complexity: backend services and relayers are less necessary because ZetaClient orchestrates the calls as part of a unified inbound flow.
- Cleaner UX: end users experience what feels like one transaction even though several steps execute under the hood.
These capabilities are particularly valuable for Universal Apps that span multiple chains and require coordinated logic across EVM ecosystems, Sui, Solana, Bitcoin, and more, all through ZetaChain’s Universal framework.
Technical Requirements and Implementation
Introducing multi-call support has architectural implications. According to ZetaClient’s release details, the following are required:
- EVM Gateway Contract Upgrades: Before validators and nodes can support multi-call transactions, the EVM Gateway contracts must be updated to handle multiple calls in a single transaction context.
- Feature Flags: New feature flags such as EnableMultipleCalls must be enabled in node configuration to activate this behavior.
- Additional Action Fees: Admin configuration for additional action fees may be required to cover the computational cost of bundled calls.
These adjustments reflect the fact that bundling logic across multiple steps increases demands on the inbound processing pipeline and requires explicit opt-in at both the EVM gateway and node configuration layers.
Why This Matters for Developers and Users
This upgrade represents a mature evolution in cross-chain execution interfaces:
- Developers gain composability: With multi-call, smart contracts and Universal Apps can express complex logic with fewer steps and less friction.
- Applications become more efficient: Capital and compute resources are used more effectively when multiple operations can run atomically inside one cross-chain flow.
- Better integration with tooling: Developer toolkits such as the ZetaChain Typescript SDK support deposit and call patterns that now compose better with multi-call workflows.
The Universal EVM continues to be the focal point of ZetaChain’s vision of omnichain execution, where assets and logic from external chains are orchestrated seamlessly and efficiently.
Validators and Infrastructure Implications
For node operators and observability infrastructure, this upgrade means greater on-chain complexity and workload. Validators must ensure that:
- The EVM Gateway contracts are upgraded and synchronized across relayers and observation nodes.
- Feature flags are correctly configured in the ZetaClient deployment to avoid transaction failures.
- Monitoring and error handling are adapted to account for bundled contract execution flows that may have more points of failure.
These operational considerations are essential for maintaining uptime and reliability, especially as Universal Apps adopt multi-call capabilities more broadly.
Broader Ecosystem Effects
The multi-call support aligns with broader trends in cross-chain interoperability by reducing reliance on off-chain relayer services and empowering on-chain engines to coordinate complex workflows. This shift helps ZetaChain stake a claim as a platform not just for cross-chain value transfer, but for full omnichain application logic, giving developers a robust foundation for next-generation Universal dApps.
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