Synthetix to phase out Arbitrum in favour of Base

The team behind Synthetix, a DeFi platform for synthetic assets, announced a gradual phase-out of support for perpetual contracts on the Arbitrum L2.

The relevant markets will be switched to “close-only” mode, under which traders can no longer open new positions or add to existing ones.

“Today, Synthetix is moving Perps on Arbitrum into close-only mode to focus resources on the flagship third version on Base. This step is aimed at providing traders with the most liquid, reliable and user-friendly experience with on-chain derivatives,” the developers explained.

They will also discontinue support for USDx on Arbitrum, which was required to enable trading in these instruments.

“The decision followed a sharp shift in Synthetix’s product strategy towards vertical integration,” project representatives noted.

Perps is a decentralised platform for trading perpetual futures built on the Synthetix protocol. Users can trade various synthetic cryptoassets with leverage. The third version of the platform runs on Base and Arbitrum—Ethereum layer-2s based on optimistic rollups.

The Base ecosystem outpaces Arbitrum by total value locked (TVL).

The gap is even more pronounced in on-chain metrics such as daily transaction volume and the number of active addresses.

Backed by the crypto exchange Coinbase, Base is built on Optimism’s OP Stack architecture. The L2 has no governance token.

The launch of Synthetix’s third version on Base took place in January 2024.