Silicon Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 designed to connect Korean exchange users with on-chain applications, is shutting down with nearly $10 million in assets still locked on the chain. The network stopped accepting new bridge deposits on September 2 and set a December 31 deadline for users to withdraw their funds before the network and explorer go offline permanently.
According to L2Beat data, Silicon holds approximately $9.75 million in assets, comprised of $2.66 million in USDC, $2.54 million in WBTC, $2.08 million in ETH, and $1.85 million in USDT. The network operates as a non-custodial service, meaning users are responsible for managing their own withdrawals. Any assets not recovered by the deadline will become unrecoverable once the network terminates.
Withdrawal Challenges Vary by Asset Type
The ease of exiting Silicon depends on what tokens users hold. Assets originally bridged from Ethereum can return to the mainnet during the withdrawal window. Users with external wallets must initiate withdrawals, maintain sufficient ETH for gas fees, and complete finalization before the cutoff.
Tokens issued directly on Silicon face greater obstacles. These cannot be bridged directly to Ethereum and instead depend on liquidity remaining within the network. As activity declines toward shutdown, swaps or withdrawals of these tokens could become difficult or impossible.
Consolidation in Ethereum's Scaling Market
Silicon's closure reflects broader consolidation pressures in Ethereum's Layer 2 ecosystem. Coinbase-backed Base and Arbitrum now hold approximately $24.7 billion combined—more than 80 percent of the roughly $30.5 billion across all Ethereum Layer 2 networks tracked by L2Beat.
Silicon was built using Polygon CDK and was closely integrated with Korbit, a major South Korean crypto exchange. Its associated Korbit Web3 Wallet, which provided exchange customers access to decentralized finance and applications, is also being discontinued less than two years after launch.
