Harmony proposes layer-1 shutdown and ONE token migration to Ethereum
Harmony has proposed sunsetting its Layer 1 blockchain and migrating its native ONE token to Ethereum as ERC-20 tokens, citing persistent security threats from state actors and AI agents. The proposal follows an August 2026 exploit where attackers minted over 3 trillion unauthorized tokens. Harmony plans to transition validators into governors for a new AI video 'remix economy' and has set aside a $1.37 million compensation pool, urging users to exit smart contracts before September 10, 2026.
Harmony layer-1 shutdown proposal
▪Harmony described its Layer 1 blockchain shutdown proposal as non-binding, without specifying when the final block would be produced or if it would undergo validator-led governance
▪Harmony announced on September 6, 2026, a proposal to fully sunset its Layer 1 blockchain, citing security threats from state actors and artificial intelligence agents
▪Under Harmony's governance rules, passing a proposal requires 51% of total stake weight participation and 66.7% support after a seven-day introduction and 14-day vote
August 2024 exploit vulnerabilities
▪The August 2026 exploit on the Harmony network stemmed from a flaw in its cross-shard receipt verification and a bug in its pre-staking quorum-checking system
▪An August 2026 exploit on the Harmony network allowed an attacker to mint unauthorized ONE tokens, which Harmony later identified as more than 3 trillion tokens across six transactions
▪Following the August 2026 exploit, Harmony planned a network rollback to an August 11, 2026 checkpoint, discarding 109,126 regular transactions and 315 staking transactions
ONE token Ethereum migration
▪Under the migration proposal, the total supply and emission rate of the ONE token will remain unchanged, with newly issued tokens allocated to Harmony's new initiative
▪Harmony proposed migrating its native ONE token to Ethereum by taking a final network snapshot and airdropping new ERC-20 tokens to the same wallet addresses
▪Harmony urged users to exit all smart contracts before September 10, 2026, warning that multisig safes, liquidity pools, and onchain applications cannot be migrated to Ethereum
Validator compensation program
▪Harmony set aside a compensation pool of at least $1.37 million for validators who sunset their nodes starting September 10, 2026, maintain their stakes, and transition to governors
▪Under the Harmony proposal, delegated stakes and unclaimed validator rewards will be airdropped to individual governor vaults on Ethereum
AI video remix economy
▪Harmony plans to bootstrap its new artificial intelligence video initiative with creators and operators, projecting that advertising could generate tens of millions of dollars from one million users
▪Harmony's proposed new initiative involves an artificial intelligence video 'remix economy' where fans fork and remix open prompts and assets published by creators
Prior Horizon bridge exploit
▪The Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the June 2022 Harmony Horizon bridge exploit to the North Korean state-backed hacker organizations Lazarus Group and APT 38
▪In June 2022, Harmony's Horizon cross-chain bridge was exploited for nearly $100 million in crypto assets due to a compromise of the bridge's multi-signature wallet
Debatable claims
▪Harmony should sunset its Layer-1 blockchain and migrate to Ethereum
▪Harmony's blockchain shutdown must be decided by validator-led governance
▪Harmony's network rollback to erase exploit transactions is justified
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