Web3: Lisk's October 31 shutdown deprives African start-ups of one of their last backers
The Lisk blockchain will shut down its network on October 31, 2026, and migrate its remaining activities to Celo, a competing platform, TechCabal reported on September 25, 2026. Behind this technical announcement lies a concrete loss for the African tech ecosystem: Lisk was one of the few remaining players willing to fund early-stage Web3 founders on the continent.
Dozens of start-ups supported from Lagos to Cape Town
According to the Nigerian media outlet, the incubation program conducted with CV Labs had admitted 43 start-ups across two cohorts, eleven of which completed the program with grants of up to $100,000. The partnership with AyaHQ reached more than 35 start-ups in 25 countries, 25 of which received Lisk funding of up to $150,000. Another $80,000 check was used to train developers in Nigeria via Web3Bridge. However, the bulk of the aid remained modest: between $4,000 and $20,000 per company, often paid in LSK tokens—a currency whose value could plummet before the start-up even had a chance to use it.
A model that could not be sustained
Lisk did not close due to a lack of interest in Africa, but rather a lack of revenue: the applications hosted on its network generated a total of $981,163 in revenue, a figure that does not align with the operating costs of a blockchain and a continental grant program, TechCabal notes. The company had conducted numerous tours in Lagos, Nairobi, and Cape Town, focusing on Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.
Funding already in decline
The withdrawal comes at the worst possible time. African blockchain companies raised $90.1 million across 28 deals in 2025, a 26.6% year-on-year decrease, according to figures cited by TechCabal. In such a tight market, the disappearance of a financier cannot be automatically replaced.
A lesson for the ecosystem
This episode serves as a reminder of a long-standing dependency: a portion of African innovation remains funded by foreign actors whose priorities can change overnight, and whose token-based grants transfer currency risk to the founders. The start-ups supported by Lisk will need to find a new network, new funding, or both, before the end of October. The question posed to African funds, development banks, and regulators on the continent is simple: who will take over?
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.
