Harmony Proposes Closing Mainnet and Migrating ONE to Ethereum

Harmony announced a proposal to retire its mainnet, which has been operating since 2019, and to move the ONE token to Ethereum as an ERC‑20 asset. The plan includes a snapshot of all ONE holdings at the final Harmony block, after which replacement tokens will be distributed automatically to the same addresses on Ethereum.

Migration mechanics

The snapshot will cover personal wallets, staking delegations, unclaimed validator rewards, smart‑contract balances and centralized‑exchange accounts. Harmony will publish the Ethereum token contract, snapshot calculations and airdrop scripts for external review. Multisignature vaults, liquidity pools and on‑chain applications will not be recreated on Ethereum, so users must withdraw from smart contracts by September 10.

Validator compensation

Harmony has set aside $1.372 million to compensate eligible validators and their delegators. Payments will be made in four quarterly installments, provided validators shut down their nodes by the September 10 deadline, retain their stakes, sign an agreement and continue serving as governors after the mainnet closes.

Future token emissions

After migration, ONE emissions will fund a new AI‑driven video platform. The proposal outlines a subscription model, operator rewards based on staking and uptime, and affiliate commissions, but these revenue projections remain unverified.

Background and security incidents

The shutdown proposal follows an August exploit that generated more than 3 trillion unauthorized ONE tokens through a cross‑shard receipt verification flaw. Harmony responded with a rollback of affected blocks and later considered migration as a less disruptive alternative.

Regulatory considerations

U.S. holders may need to retain detailed records of the migration for tax reporting, as the IRS treats digital‑asset swaps as taxable events unless specific guidance is issued.