September 2025 was marked by a wave of consolidation and market exits. Three notable players — the blockchain platform Harmony, the cross-chain protocol Router Protocol, and the Chilean crypto exchange Orionx — almost simultaneously announced the winding down of their operations. This signals a deep structural restructuring of the industry, where survival depends on adapting to new realities.
Harmony: Migration to Ethereum and a Focus on AI
Harmony's developers proposed an ambitious but complex plan to shut down their L1 network, launched back in 2019. The official reason is "threats from state-backed hackers and AI agents." The plan proposes freezing ONE balances at the last block and issuing equivalent ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, preserving the total supply and emission rate.
However, there will be no simple bridge: applications, liquidity pools, and multi-signature wallets cannot be migrated. Users were given until September 10 to withdraw funds from smart contracts. Validators will be asked to shut down their nodes, and a compensation fund of $1.372 million has been created for loyal participants, with payouts spread over four quarters.
The team itself sees its future in creating and processing AI video, which is where they propose directing new ONE emissions. The plan is not yet final and may be changed. The market reacted negatively to the news: the price of ONE fell by nearly 3% to $0.007.
Router Protocol: The Economics Didn't Add Up
The Router Protocol team, having worked for over four years on infrastructure for cross-chain transfers, announced a complete shutdown by September 30. The reason is banal and telling for the entire industry: revenue from cross-chain operations no longer covered expenses. Reduced fees, liquidity concentration in a few major networks, and a massive outflow of capital from Web3 to AI made the business unprofitable.
Over the past year, the team tried to find a way out: negotiations were held on commercial agreements, licensing, and even a sale. They were unsuccessful. As part of the liquidation, 303,333,198 ROUTE tokens from the treasury will be burned, and delisting will be coordinated with exchanges. Holders should watch for platform notifications. Some of the project's developments will become open-source, but there will be no new products with ROUTE. Tellingly, the coin's price rose 19% within a day — the market often perceives token burns as a positive signal.
Orionx: A Criminal Case Involving a Shortfall
The most alarming case is the Chilean exchange Orionx, which announced its closure after an audit revealed the disappearance of client assets worth over $7 million. Internal records did not match the actual balances of bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Polygon. Withdrawals have been suspended, and the exchange promises to return only the "maximum possible share," without guaranteeing full compensation.
The company has already filed a criminal complaint against its co-founders, Roberto Siebert and Joaquín Díaz, who had access to the storage systems. They, in turn, reject the accusations. Notably, back in June 2025, Tether led Orionx's investment round. This story is a grim reminder of the risks of centralized custody, even under the auspices of major players.
My comment: The exits of Harmony and Router Protocol are not a coincidence but a natural outcome of the "efficiency winter." Projects that failed to find sustainable monetization and lost the battle for attention to the AI sector are doomed. As for Orionx, the incident underscores the critical importance of self-custody of assets — trust in CEXs must be backed by transparency and real reserves, otherwise the consequences can be fatal for users.