Sophon sets Nov. 30 mainnet shutdown, gives users until Nov. 25 to withdraw assets

Sophon (SOPH), which is winding down its own blockchain, has set a final date. In a four-part post on its official X account on Oct. 19 (local time), Sophon said it plans to shut down the Sophon mainnet for good on Nov. 30. The post went up at 3:43 a.m. KST on Oct. 20. The date users who still hold assets on the chain actually need to meet is five days earlier, Nov. 25.

Nov. 25, not Nov. 30, is the date that counts

Sophon said "November 25 is the deadline to withdraw your assets," adding that key infrastructure and related websites will begin shutting down after Nov. 25, ahead of the final shutdown on Nov. 30. Assets left on Sophon Chain after the deadline "risk becoming permanently inaccessible," it warned.

Not every asset has to be moved by hand. According to Sophon's official documentation, Guardian NFTs, vSOPH and staked SOPH are transitioned to Ethereum automatically. Holders only need to check the claim site for rewards they can collect.

SOPH held on Upbit already sits on Ethereum

SOPH was originally issued on Ethereum. The SOPH on Sophon Chain is a bridged representation of the Ethereum token, so there is no token swap. Holders simply withdraw it from Sophon Chain to Ethereum.

Upbit completed this switch in September. It suspended SOPH deposits and withdrawals at 11 a.m. KST on Sept. 8, citing the end of Sophon Chain network service, and reopened them on the Ethereum network at 7 p.m. KST on Sept. 11, three days later. It deleted the old Sophon Chain deposit addresses. SOPH held in Upbit wallets is withdrawn over Ethereum, separately from this mainnet shutdown.

A wind-down that began in June

Sophon raised $60 million through a node sale in 2024 to build a blockchain for gaming and entertainment. Its official documentation says Sophon is moving from operating a general-purpose chain to building applications on Base. Since June 25, deposits from Ethereum into Sophon Chain have been disabled, and the chain was removed from LayerZero, a network for moving tokens between blockchains. Guardian rewards have accrued on Ethereum since 00:00 GMT on Sept. 29.

Until now, the documentation said "there is no fixed shutdown date yet," offering only an estimate that the chain would run until roughly late 2026. The new announcement fixes that date at Nov. 30. Sophon has introduced a payment card called Pyre as its first product and has said it will use product revenue to buy SOPH and burn it. The first burn listed in its documentation covers more than 46.5 million SOPH.

SOPH trades at 2.6 won on Upbit, about 9% above Binance

Upbit designated Sophon as an investment caution asset on Sept. 22, citing insufficient disclosure, and announced on Oct. 15 that it will end trading in all of its Korean won, bitcoin and Tether markets at 3 p.m. KST on Nov. 16. Withdrawals remain available until Dec. 16. On Bithumb, Sophon was also flagged as a caution asset as of Oct. 20.

SOPH traded at 2.65 won on Upbit at 3:31 p.m. KST on Oct. 20, about 6% below the 2.83 won opening price of the 3 a.m. KST hourly candle, when the announcement came out. It fell as low as 2.63 won during the day, a new low since listing, and 24-hour turnover was about 1.59 billion won. On Binance, SOPH traded at $0.00181 (in Tether) at the same time, down 14% over 24 hours. Converted at Upbit's Tether price of 1,338 won, that is about 2.42 won, leaving the Upbit price about 9% higher. Upbit has placed an "overseas price difference" caution flag on its Sophon markets.