L3 Network Shutdown & Migration to Base
Horizen (ZEN) · Other · November 4, 2026
Horizen shuts down its L3 on Base: bridging closes November 4, 13:00 UTC and the chain stops for good on November 5, 18:00 UTC as Base activates Denim.
Horizen (ZEN), the privacy-focused ecosystem that moved ZEN to Base and ran its own OP Stack L3 settling to Base, is permanently shutting down the Horizen L3. Per the official Horizen blog post Changes for Horizen (October 23, 2026), Base's Denim upgrade to 200-millisecond blocks, activating on Base mainnet on November 5, 2026 at 18:00 UTC, breaks compatibility with OP Stack L3 chains: about 40 minutes after activation the Horizen L3 can no longer include user transactions. Bridging from the L3 to Base closes on November 4 at 13:00 UTC, when balances are snapshotted. Users must withdraw ZEN staking (L3 staking rewards ended October 25), bridge ZEN and USDC.e to Base via Stargate, and move ETH through the native bridge at bridge.horizen.io. ZEN or ETH left behind will be returned on Base by the Horizen DAO over several weeks, but USDC.e is not covered. Base becomes the home chain for the Horizen ecosystem, Vela confidential execution and a new ZEN staking program. Key topics: Horizen L3 shutdown, ZEN bridge deadline, Horizen migration to Base, Base Denim upgrade impact, ZEN staking on Base.