Three major blockchain infrastructure projects announced their closure on the same day, involving Rollup, cross-chain settlement, and Layer 2

Syndicate Labs, Everclear, and ZERO Network announced the cessation of operations on the same day, highlighting the deep dilemmas in the blockchain infrastructure sector.

Syndicate Labs, a startup supported by a16z and having raised over $27 million, announced its closure after five years of operation, stating that EVM Rollup is no longer the industry standard and the market has fundamentally shifted to custom chains. The cross-chain settlement protocol Everclear (formerly Connext) announced hours later that it would shut down its foundation and lab entities, despite having a monthly trading volume that once reached $500 million, it was unable to convert that volume into revenue, and the CLEAR token dropped about 40% on the same day. The gasless Ethereum Layer 2 ZERO Network built by the crypto wallet Zerion also announced its closure on the same day, with the team shifting focus to the development of Zerion wallet and API products, and users must bridge their funds out by July 31.

The common dilemma faced by the three projects is that even with venture capital funding and operational products, it remains difficult to find a sustainable business model to withstand market deterioration.