Linea Joins Casualty List as Arkham Axes L2s Based on ’Crypto Importance’ - What’s Next for Layer-2 Survival?
Another layer-2 blockchain just got the corporate guillotine—and the criteria raising eyebrows across crypto circles.
The Chopping Block Criteria
Arkham's latest protocol purge hinges on a single, brutally subjective metric: "importance to crypto." No hard numbers, no transaction volume thresholds—just a vague determination that decides which infrastructure lives or dies. Linea now joins the growing graveyard of projects deemed insufficiently vital by centralized data platforms.
The Unspoken Hierarchy
What makes one L2 "important" while another gets axed? The silence speaks volumes. While established players with deep venture backing likely sleep soundly, smaller innovators face existential uncertainty. It's the crypto equivalent of restaurant critics shutting down eateries based on "culinary significance"—without tasting the food.
The Data Oligopoly Tightens
When analytics platforms become arbiters of protocol survival, we've entered dangerous territory. Their algorithms now effectively determine which decentralized networks deserve visibility—and which fade into obscurity. The irony? Decentralization evangelists relying on centralized gatekeepers for survival.
Survival of the Connected
In today's crypto landscape, technological superiority matters less than platform relationships. A brilliant protocol with poor Arkham integration faces extinction, while mediocre projects with better API handshakes thrive. It's the Web3 version of "it's not what you know, but who you know"—with millions in developer funding at stake.
One hedge fund manager quipped, "They're cutting L2s like banks cut credit lines—always right before you need them most." As the carnage continues, the real question emerges: who's next on the chopping block, and what mysterious metrics will determine their fate?
Arkham’s recent cuts this year have targeted L2s
Arkham shared its plan to cut Linea’s support on January 9 via its official X page, claiming Linea, which is an ethereum layer-2 network developed by Consensys, had seemingly fallen short of its criteria.
While the X post did not mention exactly which criteria failed to meet, many in the comments section speculated that it must be because it is not generating enough activity or there’s barely any interest from users to justify the cost of its maintenance.
More importantly, Linea is not the only L2 to be cut by Arkham, Manta blockchain, and the Blast network are also set to be removed on January 11, according to announcements shared via their X page. Only those three have so far been announced, and the announcements all came within days of each other after we entered the new year.
Last year, there were no records of any such drops by Arkham, highlighting the start of a trend that indicates Arkham may be getting rid of the less relevant or used chains as part of its routine optimization.
Reactions to the removal have been mostly mixed, with users highlighting concerns about how this WOULD result in reduced visibility for Linea and Manta, making it harder to track token movements or dumps without Arkham’s help.
Does Arkham still support any L2?
According to data from Arkham’s platform, the remaining Ethereum Layer 2 networks that survived the recent culling include Arbitrum, Base, Mantle, Optimism, and Polygon, specifically Polygon zkEVM.
They are all famous as Ethereum scaling solutions, and thanks to the Dencun upgrade from 2024, which outsourced transaction execution to the L2s, they are less parasitic in their relationship with Ethereum, the LAYER 1 they all operate on.
This has increased their relevance, ensuring they will continue to see usage across key metrics as more users transact on ETH. It has also freed the L1 to focus on being a secure settlement and data availability layer, while outsourcing the actual traffic to the L2s.
The Dencun upgrade introduced protodanksharding — the use of blobs — which provide a dedicated space for L2 data that doesn’t compete with standard Ethereum transactions.
In 2025, subsequent upgrades like the Pectra and Fusaka upgrades built on the Dencun update by increasing the blob capacity. However, the Dencun upgrade was the pivotal one that made the idea viable.
The next upgrade to occur will be the Glasterdam upgrade, scheduled for the first half of 2026, which is expected to significantly increase the number of blobs the Ethereum chain can handle, subsequently boosting the capacity of its L2s. There are also plans to increase the blob capacity via full danksharding, but the timeline for that is currently unknown.
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