Lisk

Max Kordek and Oliver Beddows founded the Lisk Foundation in Zug, Switzerland, in 2016 to build a JavaScript-based Layer 1 blockchain. Its token sale ran from February to March 2016 and raised more than $5.8 million, and the mainnet launched that May.⁠[1]

On December 19, 2023, Lisk announced that it would move from a Layer 1 to an Ethereum Layer 2 built on Optimism’s OP Stack and deployed through Gelato’s rollup-as-a-service platform, focusing on real-world assets and decentralized physical infrastructure networks. The LSK token would move to Ethereum and serve governance in a planned Lisk DAO.⁠[2]

That month Swiss authorities approved the transition of the Lisk Foundation into the Onchain Foundation, and Max Kordek returned to lead the new direction.⁠[1]

Lisk’s Layer 2 testnet launched in late February 2024, and its mainnet was live by November 2024. That November Lisk announced an airdrop of 15 million LSK, with a first season of 10 million LSK running for four months from November 21.⁠[3]

In September 2024 the Optimism Foundation approved a grant of 500,000 OP tokens to support U.S. dollar and non-dollar stablecoins on Lisk and the OP Superchain. That year Lisk also held a roadshow in Cape Town, Nairobi and Lagos.⁠[4]

The Lisk DAO approved the Lisk DAO Fund in October 2025. The fund later closed early, its legal handover was completed in May 2026, and its three investments moved to Onchain Ventures AG.⁠[5]

In August 2026 Lisk announced a pivot to a money operations platform for businesses operating across jurisdictions, combining accounts, payments and approvals in fiat and stablecoins. It opened first through an Early Access program, with Bridge, a Stripe company, among its partners.⁠[6]

LSK would become a loyalty token for the new platform, and projects on the chain could migrate to Celo.⁠[6]

After the DAO’s wind-down proposal passed, 100 million LSK from the treasury was burned, cutting total supply to 300 million, and about 46.5 million LSK moved to Lisk Ltd.⁠[5]

Lisk set October 31, 2026, as the shutdown date for the Lisk Chain and asked users to withdraw assets to Ethereum through bridge.lisk.com. Withdrawals take about eight days, including a seven-day challenge period; staked LSK can be unlocked without penalty but requires a further three-day wait, so Lisk advised allowing at least 11 days. LSK already on Ethereum or at exchanges is unaffected.⁠[7]

Lisk said assets left on the chain after the shutdown would become inaccessible with no recovery process. DeFi positions had to be withdrawn from their protocols before bridging, and some projects migrating to Celo could have earlier deadlines.⁠[8]