Solana-based smart contract automation protocol, Clockwork, is set to shut down by the end of October due to what its founder, Nick Garfield, describes as a "limited commercial upside." The decision underscores a growing trend of closures within the Solana ecosystem.
Clockwork's impending closure is not an isolated event within the Solana ecosystem. Earlier this year, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms Friktion and Everlend Finance also closed their doors. Notably, Cardinal, another Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) protocol, also announced its wind-down in late June, citing economic conditions despite having raised $4.4 million around a year earlier.
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) dated Aug. 27, Garfield stated that active development on Clockwork will cease and that the protocol's nodes on both the devnet and mainnet will be deactivated as of Oct. 31. The move comes as the Clockwork team weighs the "simple opportunity cost" of continuing the protocol against the lure of other potentially more lucrative opportunities.
Hi all, bittersweet news today. The team and I behind @clockwork_xyz have decided to step away from active development of the protocol. 1/
— Nick (@time_composer) August 27, 2023
Clockwork was designed to facilitate scheduled transactions on the Solana network and to automate the running of applications through smart contracts triggered by specific events. Despite its pending shutdown, Garfield confirmed that Clockwork’s code will remain open-source and freely available. He encouraged interested developers to "fork and ship" the protoccol should they wish to continue its development.
Funding and investor concerns also weigh on the matter. According to Crunchbase, Clockwork secured $4 million in seed funding last August in a round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Asymmetric, with additional participation from Solana Ventures. Responding to queries about the return of the seed funding to investors, Garfield stated that a "meaningful portion" of the funds still exists, but no decision has been made yet on its future allocation.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial or investment advice.
