Harmony Abandons Layer 1 Blockchain for Ethereum After 3 Trillion Token Exploit

Harmony is officially shutting down its mainnet and migrating all ONE tokens to Ethereum via an airdrop to existing wallet addresses. An exploit last month allowed an attacker to mint more than 3 trillion unauthorized ONE tokens due to a critical flaw in the network's cross-shard receipt verification system. The project is pivoting entirely to a new initiative focused on AI video creators, claiming the resulting advertising economy could generate tens of millions of dollars. The team has set aside a $1.37M compensation pool for validators who cease operations and agree to become "governors" in this new ecosystem. Users face a strict deadline to exit all multisig safes, liquidity pools, and onchain apps before September 10, 2026, as these contracts cannot be migrated. "The threats posed by state actors and AI agents are too great." — Harmony