Balancer Considers Shutdown After Revenue Fails to Recover from Exploit
Balancer, a decentralized exchange built on automated market makers, is considering winding down its protocol after a post-exploit restructuring failed to restore revenue. According to Balancer Labs CEO Marcus Hardt, he underestimated how long the fallout from an $128 million exploit in November would continue to suppress user traction.
The plan, posted on Balancer's governance forum, calls for a phased shutdown and the distribution of a remaining treasury currently valued at more than $9 million to BAL tokenholders. The proposal follows Balancer Labs' earlier decision to shut down in March, when the team moved to a leaner operating structure while still supporting the protocol.
Hardt's proposal attributes weak revenue recovery to continued adoption drag after the November exploit tied to legacy v2 stable pools. He said that 'most of the protocol's revenue still comes from v2,' while v3 revenue had not grown enough to fill the gap.