- Balancer will phase out its wind down strategy following the failure of V3 revenue to replace V2 revenue after the 2025 hack.
- This plan seeks to give out treasury holdings worth more than $9 million to holders of BAL tokens.
Balancer is contemplating a graceful shutdown due to its restructuring efforts failing to increase revenue after a $128 million hack. The protocol managed to reduce cost and launch new products following the closure of Balancer Labs in March. But revenue still relied a lot on the old V2 pools, while the new V3 pool failed to create enough revenues to replace them. “We fulfilled our promise of launching products that were announced to the BAL token holders but we were unable to create revenues,” commented CEO Marcus Hardt.
The Revenue Fall May Force Balancer Out of Business
The plan by Hardt to shut down the project has been posted on the governance forum of Balancer on Monday. Balancer’s treasury has over $9 million at present, according to treasury figures. The proposal would involve giving out these funds on a pro-rata basis to the BAL token holders. The company has been experiencing a fall in its revenue since the November 2025 exploit on the Balancer’s V2 platform. DefiLlama figures show a drop in monthly revenue from $1.13 million in October to $371,000 in November. Revenue further fell in 2026 and touched $56,781 in August.
Wind-Down Plan Concentrates on Treasury Savings
This plan calls for the cessation of business development from next month, allowing liquidity providers time to withdraw funds up until October 30. Unpausable pools will stay operational, but the protocol fees will be reduced to 0 percent. Starting from November 1, the project will keep running its withdrawal infrastructure solely. The Balancer DAO would be shut down too. However, during the transition period, a smaller team will be handling the process. This shutdown plan is estimated to cost Balancer up to $400,000. Hardt stated that postponing the shutdown would continue burning treasury resources without any effect.
Governance Decision Required by BAL Token Holders
First disbursement is expected in May 2027 whereby holders will burn their tokens in order to receive their share of the total number of funds. The second disbursement will take care of leftover money from winding down and any funds not received following the first disbursement. The third disbursement will happen six months later. The decision by BAL token holders will take place during a snapshot voting process from September 25-29. In case the voters fail to accept the proposal, Balancer will continue running with its present structure.
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