🧨 The End of the L2 Experiment: Why Synthetix Is Going All-In on Ethereum Mainnet

Synthetix is ditching rollups and heading back to Ethereum L1. In 2025, the OG DeFi derivatives protocol says goodbye to Arbitrum, Base, and the L2 dream. Here's why.

🌀 What Went Wrong With L2?

Back in 2021, Synthetix bet big on rollups. Like many DeFi pioneers, it embraced Ethereum Layer 2 for lower fees and faster speeds. It launched on Arbitrum and Base, hoping to escape the congestion of Ethereum Mainnet.

But the L2 promise didn’t deliver. Instead of seamless scaling, Synthetix ran into:

• ⚠️ Liquidity fragmentation — user volume split across chains.
• 🧱 Infrastructure instability — frequent outages on Arbitrum.
• 🪙 Speculation over substance — memecoins replaced real finance.

According to Synthetix, L2s became bridges to other L1s — not scaling solutions. And the protocol’s core product — derivatives — needs stability and liquidity, not scattered chains and downtime.

🔙 Why Ethereum Layer 1 Now Makes Sense

Ethereum L1 is having a moment. Core developers are rolling out sharding, data availability improvements, and rollup-centric designs — ironically making L1 itself more scalable.

Synthetix now sees Ethereum Mainnet as:

• 🔐 Battle-tested and secure
• 💸 More liquid and credible
• ⚙️ Ready for real DeFi again

So instead of chasing the next L2, the team is building a native L1 perps exchange with sUSD/sUSDe support, early vault incentives, and trading competitions — all on Ethereum itself.

🔚 What’s Getting Shut Down

Here's the timeline for the L2 shutdown:

• 🛑 June 12 — LP vaults stopped taking new deposits
• 🔒 June 30 — Base perps enter close-only mode
• ❌ July 7 — Base perps and leverage tokens deprecated
• 📤 Arbitrum — already deprecated; users have 6 months to claim funds

Synthetix is urging LPs and traders to withdraw funds and migrate to Mainnet to access new features.

🧭 What About Optimism?

Optimism isn’t dead yet — but it’s not the future either. Synthetix says there are no immediate changes, but incentives will push users toward Ethereum L1.

More tools for migration and updated incentives for sUSD holders on Optimism are coming soon.

🛠️ What’s Next for Synthetix?

The next-gen Synthetix is focused on:

• 🧪 New L1 perps vaults
• 🎯 Early incentive programs
• 🏆 Gated trading competitions

It’s not just an update — it’s a total reboot, grounded on the most secure smart contract platform in existence.

L2? For Synthetix, it was a good try. But the future’s on Ethereum Mainnet.

🚀 TL;DR

• Synthetix is shutting down on Arbitrum, Base, and L2s
• Ethereum L1 is getting faster and more viable
• New perps exchange and vaults are launching on Mainnet
• Traders and LPs: migrate now for incentives