LayerZero has confirmed that it will end off-chain support for 14 low-activity chains. The list includes Arbitrum Nova, Cronos zkEVM, Degen, Skale Europa, Superposition, and Shrapnel. The company’s DVN network and Executors will be deprecated for these chains over the next 30 days. The full shutdown is expected by September. That leaves a short window for users and projects to move assets. If they don’t, stablecoins such as USDT and USDC could be stranded on those chains.
Why this was expected
LayerZero has been flagging underused chains since July. At that time, it named more than 30 networks with low activity, including BounceBit, which has already shut down. The public reason for the latest cut is operational efficiency. But there are other forces at play.
The biggest one is the KelpDAO exploit. In 2026, KelpDAO lost around $292 million in one of the largest DeFi hacks of the year. The incident was tied to LayerZero’s recommended “1-of-1” DVN setup. That configuration allowed large transfers to be approved without enough independent verification. The same issue could exist with low-adoption reserve assets. Because of that, Aave stopped supporting most of them, including some ghost chains.
Projects are moving to Chainlink CCIP
The fallout has pushed projects toward rival bridge protocols. Chainlink CCIP has gained traction since the exploit. Wyoming, BitGo, and Nethermind have all moved from LayerZero to CCIP. Zach Rynes from Chainlink estimated that around $15 billion has migrated. The exact figure is hard to confirm, but the direction is clear.
LayerZero’s bridged volume also dropped sharply. It fell from roughly 400,000 ETH to about 100,000 ETH, a four-fold decline. That kind of drop changes priorities.
Security and competition
By cutting support for these chains, LayerZero reduces its security exposure. Fewer active chains mean fewer places where the “1-of-1” setting could be misused. It also gives LayerZero a way to respond to CCIP’s growing market share.
Still, the move may not be enough to stop more projects from leaving. The trust damage from the KelpDAO incident runs deep. LayerZero needs to show that its remaining supported chains are safer than before. The next few months will determine whether this strategic pullback works or simply speeds up the migration.
