After roughly 18 months of operation, the Ethereum Layer 2 project Zero Network announced it will shut down its standalone chain and refocus its efforts on expanding the Zerion API and wallet products.
The team said the network was launched with the belief that gas fees were among the biggest obstacles to mainstream crypto adoption, according to a statement shared on X.
Full Shutdown Timeline
Zero Network described itself as the first fully gasless, EVM-compatible rollup, offering zero gas fees for Zerion wallet users through an open paymaster system. However, after running the network, the team concluded that maintaining a separate chain was no longer the best way to pursue that goal.
The project plans to redirect resources toward products already used daily by its customers. As part of the wind-down process, the team urged all users holding ETH, tokens, or NFTs on Zero Network to bridge their assets out before July 31, 2026.
The team stated that all funds remain safe and fully accessible, and instructed users to move assets either to the Ethereum mainnet or another preferred chain before the deadline.
According to the announcement, bridging into Zero Network has already been disabled, while bridging out will remain available until July 31, 2026. After that date the network will be fully shut down and block production will stop. The team also thanked early users, builders, and partner projects that supported the ecosystem from launch, including Matter Labs, Caldera, Relay Protocol, and Highlight.
“The vision we set out to build hasn’t changed. How we deliver it is evolving. The team, the talent, and everything we learned from ZERϴ is being channeled into building the best wallet and data API experience in crypto, across every chain.”
Crypto Closures
Several crypto companies also announced shutdowns this week. Syndicate Labs, an Ethereum infrastructure startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz, said it would close after five years. The company had focused on building tools to help developers create and scale on-chain applications but said the rollup sector has shifted significantly over time.
Syndicate Labs explained that EVM rollups are no longer universally treated as the default industry approach. The firm said it spent years trying to support the growth of on-chain apps and expressed regret that outcomes did not align with expectations.
Meanwhile, crypto trading card platform Fantasy.top said it will shut down in June after two years because trading activity was not large enough to support long-term operations. The company experimented with other products, including prediction markets, but failed to find sustained market demand.
Pantera-backed cross-chain infrastructure firm Everclear also announced it was winding down the Everclear Foundation and Everclear Labs after the business failed to generate sustainable revenue or achieve sufficient commercial traction.