Silicon Ethereum L2 network shuts down, giving users until New Year's Eve to withdraw $10 million in assets

The Ethereum layer-2 network Silicon Network stopped accepting deposits and began shutting down on September 2, 2026, giving users until December 31, 2026, to withdraw nearly $9.75 million in remaining assets. Built with Polygon CDK and integrated with South Korean exchange Korbit, Silicon Network's closure highlights consolidation in the layer-2 market, where Base and Arbitrum control over 80% of assets.

Silicon Network shutdown timeline

• ▪Silicon Network is scheduled to permanently shut down its explorer and network after December 31, 2026.
• ▪Silicon Network stopped accepting new bridge deposits and ended its network operations on September 2, 2026.

User withdrawal deadline

• ▪Silicon Network has given users until December 31, 2026, to withdraw their assets before the network and explorer disappear.
• ▪Silicon Network stated that because the network is a non-custodial service, assets that are not withdrawn before the December 31, 2026, deadline cannot be recovered.

Stranded asset recovery options

• ▪To withdraw assets originally bridged from Ethereum, external-wallet users must initiate a withdrawal, maintain enough ETH for gas, and complete finalization before the December 31, 2026, cutoff.
• ▪Data from L2Beat showed that Silicon Network held approximately $9.75 million in assets, including $2.66 million of USDC, $2.54 million of WBTC, $2.08 million of ETH, and $1.85 million of USDT.

Bridged versus native tokens

• ▪Silicon Network warned that swaps or withdrawals of directly issued tokens could become difficult or impossible as network activity winds down.
• ▪Tokens issued directly on Silicon Network cannot be bridged directly to Ethereum and instead depend on remaining network liquidity for swaps or withdrawals.

Ethereum layer-2 market consolidation

• ▪Coinbase-backed Base and Arbitrum secure about $24.7 billion combined, representing over 80% of the approximately $30.5 billion held across Ethereum layer-2 networks tracked by L2Beat.
• ▪Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has urged layer-2 networks to offer value beyond cheaper execution, arguing that the original vision of layer-2s acting as Ethereum's 'branded shards' no longer fits.

Korbit Web3 Wallet discontinuation

• ▪Silicon Network was built with Polygon CDK, connected to Agglayer, and closely integrated with Korbit, a major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange.
• ▪Korbit's Web3 Wallet, which ran on Silicon Network to give exchange customers access to DeFi and decentralized applications, is being discontinued less than two years after its launch.

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