Harmony proposes shutting down its layer 1 and moving ONE to Ethereum

CoinDesk described the proposal as a response to the growing cost and difficulty of defending a standalone network against state actors and AI-enabled threats. Harmony also framed the change around an AI-video initiative, turning the announcement into both a technical migration and a strategic reset.

The proposal is non-binding and not yet a shutdown. Harmony has not specified the final block or confirmed that validator-led governance has approved the plan. That means the announcement is a material direction of travel, but not proof that the current chain will stop on a fixed date.

Migration details still carry user risk

Under the outline, balances, staking delegations, validator rewards and exchange accounts would be recorded at the final block, with matching Ethereum tokens sent to corresponding addresses. Cointelegraph reported that Harmony’s plan warns users to exit smart contracts before Sept. 10 because multisig safes, liquidity pools and onchain applications cannot be migrated automatically.

That warning is the practical center of the story. A token balance can be copied, but contracts, positions and application state are not interchangeable across chains. Users may face separate decisions about bridges, exchange support, staking treatment and whether a dapp has a safe Ethereum replacement.

The proposed validator incentive pool also needs scrutiny. The Block reported a $1.372 million pool intended to compensate validators and delegators that shut down on schedule and potentially serve as governors of the new project. The amount, eligibility rules and payment schedule remain proposal details rather than settled obligations.

Readers should watch governance approval, the snapshot specification and exchange notices. Until those documents are final, the safest description is a proposed migration with meaningful operational risk—not a completed Ethereum launch and not a guarantee that token value or every application balance will carry over.