Balancer is considering an orderly shutdown after its post-exploit restructuring failed to generate enough sustainable revenue. Former Balancer Labs CEO and current Treasury Council member Marcus Hardt has proposed ending new business development, progressively retiring protocol operations and returning the remaining treasury to BAL holders. The plan would require approval from token holders before the principal wind-down actions can begin.
According to Hardt’s formal governance proposal, the managed treasury is currently worth at least $9 million at prevailing token prices, although the final amount available for distribution will not be fixed until the opening snapshot. Additional DAO wallets, receivables and positions are still being inventoried, while the eventual distribution base would be measured and audited when the first redemption round opens.
Balancer Sets Out a Phased Exit
The proposal follows an April restructuring intended to put Balancer on a sustainable financial footing after the November 2025 exploit of legacy v2 pools. Balancer’s official post-mortem recorded $121.1 million in total losses from the attack, while also reporting substantial funds protected or recovered through emergency interventions. Balancer v3 used a different architecture and was not affected, but Hardt said the incident continued to weigh on the protocol’s ability to gain traction.
Financially, the turnaround did not produce the revenue required to support ongoing operations. Hardt estimates Balancer’s current monthly operating burn at roughly $150,000 against about $30,000 in protocol revenue in August, with treasury management generating another approximately $25,000 per month. The proposed wind-down would allocate up to $400,000: $150,000 through May 2027, another $30,000 through the final distribution process and a $220,000 contingency reserve available only if needed.
If governance approves the plan, pausable pools would enter withdrawal-only mode on October 30, 2026, with recovery mode enabled where necessary to preserve withdrawals. Pools that cannot be paused would remain operational, but protocol fees would be reduced to zero where contracts permit. The bug bounty would also end that day, while contributor notice expires October 31 and a smaller transition team would take over from November 1.
BAL Holders Would Redeem Against the Treasury
The proposed distribution replaces the previously approved BIP-919 BAL buyback. Round one is scheduled to open at the end of May 2027 and remain available for six months, after existing veBAL locks have expired. Eligible holders would burn BAL and receive a pro rata share of the distributable treasury in the tokens actually held, rather than receiving a fixed dollar payment.
Recovered assets from the 2025 attacks would not be included. Those funds remain reserved for liquidity providers affected by the exploits, while the holder distribution would use DAO-owned assets after wind-down costs and third-party obligations are excluded. A second airdrop is targeted for January 2028 to distribute unused budget, later receipts and unredeemed assets among addresses that participated in round one, followed by a final sweep around July 2028.
The proposal is scheduled for a Snapshot vote from September 25 through September 29, with a 5 million BAL quorum. Until token holders approve the package, Balancer’s wind-down actions have not been authorized and current contracts remain under the existing framework. A rejection would leave BIP-918, the BIP-919 buyback and the current bug-bounty structure in place, making the September governance vote the immediate decision point for the protocol’s future.