L2s are Dead, Long Live Ethereum

Synthetix

14 Jun 2025 • 3 min read

Synthetix was one of the first protocols to launch on an Ethereum rollup back in 2021—a lifetime ago in DeFi terms. While the promise of faster and cheaper execution was compelling, the reality fell short. Liquidity became fragmented, communities splintered, and infrastructure proved unreliable.

Synthetix faced frequent downtime due to unstable rollup infrastructure. Arbitrum became little more than a bridge to alt-L1 competitors. And as serious builders struggled to ship, the market drifted into memecoins and short-term narratives. In the wake of the generalized rollup experiment, both Synthetix and the broader Ethereum community came to a hard realization: we can do better.

As Ethereum core developers refocused on scaling Layer 1, Synthetix began reassessing its approach to derivatives. The truth? The market is saturated with perps DEXs scattered across custom rollups and sidechains. What it lacks, surprisingly, is a single high-performance perps exchange built natively on Ethereum, the world’s most secure smart contract platform.

Synthetix is stepping up to change that.

The L2 Celebration of Life Schedule

As part of the transition to Synthetix Mainnet, all L2 deployments are being wound down. To help traders and LPs prepare, we’ve put together a short guide. We hope you’ll join us on Ethereum for early deposit vaults, points rewards, and what we believe will be the most important stage of the protocol to date.

Below is everything you need to know about the deprecation timeline, how to manage your positions, and what’s coming next.

Base Deprecation Timeline

Date	Component	Action
June 12	LP vaults	New deposits disabled
June 30	Leverage Tokens	Redeem-only
July 7	Leverage Tokens	Fully deprecated
June 30	Perpetual Futures (Perps)	Close-only mode
July 7	Perps & LP vaults	Fully deprecated

What You Need to Know

Arbitrum

Yesterday, the Synthetix deployment on Arbitrum was fully deprecated. This move comes several months after the initial wind down of Arbitrum trading, and should have minimal impact on current users.

If you previously provided liquidity on Arbitrum and have not withdrawn your collateral, you must pay back any debt and claim your collateral within the next 6 months. To claim your collateral from the treasury, please visit us in Discord and open a support ticket. For governance details, see details in SIP-416.

Base

Perpetual Futures

Perps enter close-only mode on June 30. You’ll be able to close positions but not open new ones. Funding rates may be volatile during this period.
All markets will be deprecated on July 7. Margin will be auto-returned in USDC after July 7 if not withdrawn, minus any debt owed. To avoid delays, please close positions and withdraw your margin before this date.
If you have questions or special circumstances, please visit us in Discord and open a support ticket. Please be aware core contributors will never offer support in DMs or in external servers.

Leverage Tokens

Leverage Tokens will become redeem-only on June 30. You will not be able to mint new tokens after this date.
Leverage Tokens will be fully deprecated on July 7, and any remaining value returned to traders.
We recommend redeeming your tokens before this deadline to avoid delays or uncertainty during deprecation.

Liquidity Providers

LP vaults have recently stopped accepting new deposits.
Please withdraw LP collateral by July 7. Remaining LP positions will be liquidated on July 7. LPs who have not withdrawn by this time will have their collateral returned by the treasury.

What About Optimism?

Optimism's time will come, will come, but not today.

There are no changes to Synthetix on Optimism at this time. If you are trading on Optimism, we recommend subscribing to this blog and following our Twitter to stay updated on future changes.

sUSD will play a crucial role in the Synthetix Mainnet system, and sUSD holders will be incentivized to migrate their holdings to mainnet and participate in the upcoming L1 perps system. To begin, sUSD will be accepted for early deposits in Synthetix Mainnet Vaults. Additional tools and incentives to help sUSD holders on Optimism bridge their sUSD to Synthetix Mainnet will be announced in the coming weeks.

Looking Ahead

Ethereum Mainnet is now the sole focus of protocol development. Traders and LPs are encouraged to migrate assets to Ethereum Mainnet with us, where you can participate in: