Sophon Shifts SOPH to Ethereum as Chain Wind-Down Advances

Sophon chain wind-down moves SOPH operations to Ethereum

Sophon announced the broader wind-down on June 25, disabled new deposits through its canonical bridge that day and said it expects the chain to remain live through roughly the end of 2026. The final date has not been disclosed, so the timing for a self-custody user is less a same-day emergency than a requirement to track the project’s official closure notice.

The project’s own distinction is important. Its token note says the gas-token model, staking mechanics and node-reward infrastructure were built for a chain that will no longer exist. SOPH’s proposed replacement utility is a revenue-funded buyback-and-burn program tied to Sophon’s product suite, not a continuation of the old network’s gas and staking roles.

For liquid SOPH, the official guide says the Ethereum contract is 0x6B7774CB12ed7573a7586E7D0e62a2A563dDd3f0. A holder with the bridged version on Sophon can use the canonical bridge to Ethereum and then, where supported, move it onward. This differs from the migration that Moonbeam set for GLMR holders, where the project required a 1:1 token move by a firm deadline.

Sophon says Guardian NFTs will be recreated on Ethereum and that node rewards will continue, with the last Sophon-chain reward distribution scheduled for September 29. It says staked SOPH and vSOPH are also handled as part of the move, but users should check claim.sophon.com for unclaimed rewards rather than assume every wallet balance has already changed networks.

KuCoin and OKX set SOPH network maintenance windows

Centralized exchanges are now making the network change visible to customers. KuCoin said it suspended SOPH deposits and withdrawals on the Sophon Chain at 08:00 UTC on July 27, will complete the migration automatically for account holders, and will only support SOPH deposits and withdrawals on Ethereum after completion. Spot trading was not scheduled to be affected.

OKX separately said it would begin its maintenance at 08:00 UTC on July 30 and targeted completion between then and 12:00 UTC on July 31. Its notice also says trading should continue, but cautions that the operational work can take longer because it depends on coordination with the project and other parties.

Those notices use the familiar shorthand of a migration from the Sophon network to ERC-20. Sophon’s guide adds the technical nuance: the Ethereum token already exists, while the chain balance is the representation being withdrawn or re-routed. That makes the correct deposit network a more immediate risk than a conversion ratio for exchange users.

The exchange steps resemble Coinbase’s recent INJ network migration, where a venue ended support for deposits through an older network after a maintenance window. Users should not send a token merely because its ticker matches; they should confirm the destination network in the exchange’s live deposit screen and compare the address to project documentation.

Base pivot retires SOPH’s former gas and staking model

Sophon describes its new structure as an apps-focused studio rather than a general-purpose chain. Its guide says the project is building on Base, while its token material says future SOPH buybacks and burns are intended to be funded by product revenues from offerings such as Pyre rather than transaction fees generated by the retiring network.

That is a significant change in what the token is meant to represent, but it is not proof that the new model will produce revenue or reduce circulating supply on any particular schedule. Sophon says bought-back tokens are intended to be burned rather than redistributed, and it said it had planned an initial burn of more than 46.5 million SOPH from unused staking-reward and node-buyback allocations.

The transition also shows why chain closures can involve more than a token contract. Wallets, bridge routes, NFT ownership, vesting claims, exchange deposit systems and service-provider procedures can all change on different dates. The recent Sui public-node shutdown is a separate technical event, but it similarly illustrates how an infrastructure change can leave users needing to verify the service path they rely on.

The broader Crypto Fear and Greed Index read 28, or Fear, when checked. The Bitcoin-focused gauge does not measure Sophon’s migration risk, but it places the shift in a cautious market environment for smaller assets.

The remaining unknown is the final Sophon Chain decommissioning date and the exact timetable for any further exchange network updates. The next concrete milestones are OKX’s targeted completion window, Sophon’s September 29 reward transition and the project’s eventual final withdrawal notice, rather than a forecast for SOPH’s price.