Botanix Labs shuts down Bitcoin L2 network after four years

Botanix Labs is shutting down its Bitcoin Layer 2 network, marking the end of a four-year effort to build a smart contract and decentralized finance ecosystem directly on Bitcoin. The project announced that its mainnet will cease operations this summer, giving users until July 9, 2026, to withdraw all bitcoin and other digital assets. After that deadline, any remaining funds will be swept by the network's federation, rendering them permanently unrecoverable.

The decision to wind down comes despite what the team described as technical success. The network, known as Spiderchain, launched its mainnet in July 2025 and operated with 100% uptime and no security incidents. It processed 25 million transactions across 200,000 wallets, moved tens of millions of dollars in assets, and integrated major industry infrastructure from partners including Chainlink, Morpho, Fireblocks, and OKX.

In a detailed statement, the team explained the closure was driven by economics, not technology. They concluded that organic user demand for a dedicated Bitcoin Layer 2 was insufficient to generate the transaction fee revenue needed to cover the network's infrastructure costs. The project was built without...