Three blockchain infrastructure projects shut down on the same day as Layer 2 consolidation accelerates
Three blockchain infrastructure projects closed their operations on May 21, suggesting rising concern about the sustainability of venture-backed solutions. Syndicate Labs, Everclear (formerly Connext), and ZERO Network each shut down within hours of each other. The shutdowns involve three separate industries that have had substantial venture investments within the period from 2021 to 2022. Syndicate Labs closes after rollup demand dries up Syndicate Labs constructed infrastructure for Ethereum appchains and smart sequencing. The company secured $20 million in Series A fundraising, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, in 2021. Five years went into creating developer tools tailored toward rollups. “Unfortunately, the rollup market has shrunk dramatically,” Syndicate Labs announced on X on May 21. “For every new rollup spinning up, more are quietly shutting down.” Will Papper, co-founder of the company, said the team thought about pivoting into rollup-as-a-service consulting, but found that the market was moving away from this and towards custom execution environments made specifically for certain applications. “I wish we had a better path to customer and market traction. Unfortunately, we did not in this rollup market,” Papper said. EVM rollups are no longer the default route for scaling, according to the firm. Teams are choosing to construct their own chains rather than use shared infrastructure. The