Harmony Protocol says it is shutting down and moving its remaining functionality to Ethereum after an exploit on August 11 led to the unauthorized minting of 3 trillion ONE tokens. The project said the decision was driven by concerns about threats from state actors and AI agents, while presenting Ethereum as a safer destination for the ONE token.
The move follows a rollback that restored Harmony to its pre-hack state, but it comes at a time when Ethereum itself has seen a large share of this year’s reported security incidents. That leaves open questions about whether a chain migration alone can meaningfully reduce risk.
Exploit accelerates a long decline
The immediate trigger for the shutdown was the August exploit that inflated the supply of ONE through unauthorized minting. Afterward, Harmony rolled back the network to reverse the damage and return to the state before the attack.
The incident added to mounting pressure on the project. Over the past month, the price of ONE has dropped by more than 40%, according to the source article. Harmony had already been dealing with the legacy of earlier security failures, including the 2022 hack of its Horizon bridge, part of a broader pattern of bridge-related breaches across the industry.
The network’s diminished position is also visible in its on-chain activity. Harmony once held more than $1 billion in total value locked at its peak, but that figure has now fallen to roughly $150,000.
How the Ethereum migration will work
Harmony said user balances will be moved using a snapshot, with the corresponding amounts airdropped to the same wallet addresses on Ethereum. The plan is intended to preserve direct ownership for holders whose assets are in standard wallets at the time of the snapshot.
The exception is funds held inside smart contracts. Those balances will not migrate automatically, and affected users have been given three days to withdraw them before the shutdown process advances. That limitation makes timing important for any wallets or applications still interacting with contracts on Harmony.
Project focus shifts beyond the original chain
As it sunsets the blockchain, Harmony is also redirecting the project toward what it describes as “the remix economy for AI video.” The article says the new strategy is centered on building a large user base and generating advertising revenue.
The change also redefines the role of existing network participants. Validators are being encouraged to move into new functions tied to the post-chain version of the project, including governance, AI video operations, and affiliate activity.
Ethereum may offer scale, not automatic safety
Harmony’s reasoning suggests Ethereum provides a stronger base layer, but the source article notes that security outcomes depend on more than the chain a project uses. Ethereum’s core protocol is described as robust, yet applications built on top of it remain exposed to coding errors and exploit risk.
That distinction matters because Ethereum has been the site of a large number of reported incidents this year. CertiK said there were 344 security incidents across crypto in the first half of 2026, and 153 of them occurred on Ethereum, or about 44% of the total. The article links the broader rise in exploits to the spread of powerful AI models.
The next confirmed step for Harmony users is the migration snapshot and the short withdrawal window for assets still locked in smart contracts. Beyond that, whether the move improves safety will likely depend less on Ethereum alone than on how any replacement systems are designed and maintained.
Source: protos.com