The ZK-powered chain is being retired after the team concluded that maintaining blockchain infrastructure had become an expensive commodity play.
Sophon is pulling the plug on its own blockchain. The project announced on June 25 that it will shut down its ZK-powered Layer-2 chain and reinvent itself as SOPH, a consumer product studio building apps on Coinbase’s Base network.
The first product out the door is called Pyre, a gamified daily payments app expected to launch in early July. It’s a sharp turn from running your own chain to shipping consumer finance tools on someone else’s, and the reasoning comes down to cold, hard math.
Why Sophon killed its own chain #
Running a blockchain is expensive. Sophon was spending roughly $3.4 million per year just to keep its chain infrastructure humming along. For a project that raised $60 million in 2024, with total funding potentially reaching $70 million, that kind of recurring cost starts to look less like an investment and more like a drain.
The team’s conclusion: blockchain infrastructure has become commoditized. By moving to Base and shuttering its own chain, Sophon estimates it will cut roughly $3 million from its annual burn rate.
What SOPH is building #
The rebrand from Sophon to SOPH (sometimes styled as Soph(+)) signals more than a name change. It’s a full strategic reorientation toward consumer-facing applications.
Pyre is the flagship. Described as a gamified daily payments app, it sits at the intersection of fintech and crypto. The early July launch timeline is aggressive, which suggests the team has been quietly building this while still running the L2.
But Pyre isn’t the only thing in the pipeline. Sophon has disclosed several additional apps in various stages of development: XP, SophEarn, SophPlay, and SophAI.
Sophon initially positioned itself as a consumer-focused Layer-2 blockchain for entertainment, gaming, and AI applications using ZK technology. The company raised significant capital in 2024 through one of the industry’s largest node sales, subsequently launching its mainnet in December 2024. By mid-2026, leadership determined that the expenses incurred to maintain a general-purpose blockchain were unjustified relative to the value generated at the application layer.
For investors holding the $SOPH token, a leaner operation with consumer products generating actual usage could create more sustainable value than an underutilized chain. The $3 million in annual savings extends runway and allows more capital to flow toward product development. The early July launch of Pyre will be the first real test of whether this pivot was strategic clarity or a desperate course correction. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our