Harmony proposes shutting down layer-1 blockchain, migrating ONE token to Ethereum

Sep 7, 2026

Harmony has proposed shutting down its seven-year-old layer-1 blockchain and migrating its native ONE token to Ethereum as an ERC-20 token. The non-binding proposal follows severe security challenges, including an August 2026 exploit that minted 3 trillion unauthorized tokens and a $100 million Horizon bridge hack in 2022. Harmony plans to pivot to an AI video platform, offering its validators transition roles and drawing from a $1.372 million compensation pool starting September 10, 2026.

Harmony blockchain shutdown proposal

▪The Harmony shutdown proposal is non-binding, and the project has not specified a date for the final network block or confirmed if it will undergo the validator-led governance process.
▪Harmony cited security threats from state actors and artificial intelligence agents as the primary reasons for proposing the network shutdown.
▪Harmony proposed retiring its seven-year-old layer-1 blockchain and migrating its native ONE token to the Ethereum network as an ERC-20 token.

ONE token migration to Ethereum

▪Harmony stated that multisig safes, liquidity pools, and on-chain applications cannot be migrated to Ethereum, prompting the project to ask users to exit smart contracts before September 10, 2026.
▪The total supply and emission rate of the ONE token will remain unchanged under Harmony's migration proposal.
▪Harmony plans to take a final network snapshot to record ONE balances across wallets, staking delegations, validator rewards, smart contracts, and centralized exchanges for the Ethereum airdrop.

Validator compensation pool

▪Harmony has set aside a $1.372 million compensation pool for validators and delegators who shut down their nodes on time, sign an agreement, and retain their stakes.
▪The validator compensation from the $1.372 million pool will be distributed over four quarters and will cover the difference in emission rewards between a validator's last block and the final block.

Governor transition process

▪Harmony offered validators the option to remain as governors to oversee individual governor vaults where delegated stakes and unclaimed rewards will be distributed.
▪Harmony validators can begin shutting down their nodes starting September 10, 2026, under the transition proposal.

Security exploits rollback

▪On August 17, 2026, Harmony proposed rolling back its blockchain shards to August 11, 2026, checkpoints, which would discard 109,126 regular transactions and 315 staking transactions.
▪The shutdown proposal follows an August 2026 security exploit where attackers used a cross-shard receipt verification flaw to fraudulently mint over 3 trillion ONE tokens across six transactions.
▪The Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed a prior June 2022 exploit on Harmony's Horizon cross-chain bridge, which resulted in a $100 million theft, to the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group and APT38.

AI video business pivot

▪Harmony plans to pivot its business to an AI video 'remix economy' where creators publish prompts and fans use AI agents to generate and remix video clips.
▪Harmony plans to direct future ONE token emissions toward the AI video initiative and subsidize GPU hardware for operators during the first year of the platform.