Balancer Labs co-founder Markus Hardt has proposed on the Balancer forum a plan to wind down the DeFi protocol, close the DAO, and distribute approximately $9 million among BAL holders.
Voting on Snapshot is expected to take place from September 25 to 29.
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A key change is the cancellation of the previously approved BAL buyback. Instead, Hardt suggests distributing the remaining treasury assets to token holders proportionally. To receive the distribution, users will need to burn their BAL tokens.
The initiative comes six months after the closure of Balancer Labs’ management company. The decision followed a hack in November 2025, which resulted in a $128 million loss for the protocol. Hardt explained that the restructuring in spring 2026, which included cost reductions and the launch of v3, failed to achieve sustainable profitability.
Voting scenarios:
- “For.” The previously planned token buyback program will be canceled. The protocol’s treasury (approximately $9 million) will be proportionally distributed among investors in exchange for burning their BAL tokens. About $400,000 is planned for the technical support of the closure process;
- “Against.” The protocol will continue to operate. However, the proposal’s authors warn that without a significant increase in fee revenue, the treasury will gradually deplete to maintain the team, and in the event of inevitable liquidation in the future, investors risk receiving significantly less or nothing at all.
If approved, the roadmap will be as follows:
- October 30, 2026. Transition all liquidity pools to a “withdrawal-only” safe mode. Halt the development of new products;
- May 2027. Open the first six-month window (Round I) for burning BAL and receiving treasury payouts via airdrop;
- January 2028. Conduct the second phase (Round II) for distributing unclaimed funds.
According to the proposal, the final amount for distribution will be fixed and audited at the block where the first round opens. BAL tokens and any assets convertible into them are excluded from distribution, except those intended for tetuBAL holders.
According to CoinGecko, since its peak in 2021, the price of the native BAL token has plummeted by over 99%—from $72 to $0.11. Market capitalization has dropped from $783 million to the current $7.8 million.
In March, Balancer Labs announced its closure.
