Linera and Switchboard Fall: Crypto Bear Market Claims Two More Victims

Crypto bear market claims two more victims as Linera and Switchboard shut down back to back, just days apart. The shutdowns are a stark reminder of the challenging times for crypto projects, with over 260 having already bitten the dust in 2026 alone, according to RootData.

Linera, a layer-1 network backed by venture capital giant a16z, had been struggling to secure funding and was unable to meet its $1.5 million USDC minimum target for a community round. Despite raising over $12 million across two seed rounds, the team ultimately refunded every contribution after failing to attract sufficient interest.

The team behind Linera will continue to preserve points balances in the records, but it's unclear whether these points will ever receive any consideration in the future. A spokesperson for Linera acknowledged that the shutdown does not reflect on the technology or team, and that they still hope to finish the protocol and launch applications on it in the future.

Just a day later, Switchboard Technology Labs announced its own closure, citing the bear market and increased competition from AI tools as major factors. The team blamed the market around them rather than the product itself, stating that 'in many ways, crypto has won, there's less of a need for data intermediaries'.