Balancer Proposes Complete Shutdown, Plans to Distribute $9 Million Treasury to BAL Holders After Turnaround Efforts Fail

Balancer, once one of decentralized finance’s foundational “blue-chip” protocols, is moving toward a formal, complete wind-down after post-hack recovery efforts failed to make the protocol financially sustainable. A new governance proposal calls for winding down remaining operations entirely and distributing the DAO’s treasury — at least $9 million — directly to BAL token holders, marking the effective end of a project that once managed billions in liquidity. Why Balancer Is Winding Down The proposal, authored by Marcus Hardt and published on Balancer’s governance forum, cites a stark financial reality: the protocol has been generating approximately $30,000 per month in revenue while incurring roughly $150,000 in monthly expenses — a burn rate that made continued operation unsustainable following a botched restructuring attempt in the aftermath of the protocol’s catastrophic 2025 hack. Balancer confirmed the proposal directly on its official X account: “A proposal to wind down Balancer and distribute the treasury to BAL holders is live on the forum, authored by Marcus Hardt. Discussion is open; a Snapshot vote is expected to happen from 25 to 29 September.” The team was explicit that no immediate operational changes are taking place: “Nothing changes today: pools and withdrawals work as they do now. Any wind-down action waits for the vote.” How the Treasury Distribution Would Work According to the proposal, Balancer’s treasury currently holds approximately $9 million, excluding BAL tokens themselves. Each BAL token would be valued at roughly $0.13 for distribution purposes, based on the protocol’s circulating supply — notably above the token’s current market price of approximately $0.11 at time of writing. Under the proposed timeline, the initial round of treasury distribution to eligible BAL holders would begin at the end of May 2027, with any unclaimed tokens from that initial distribution subsequently redistributed among holders who did successfully redeem their allocation. The Snapshot governance vote determining whether this wind-down proceeds is scheduled to run from September 25 to September 29, 2026, giving BAL token holders roughly two weeks from the proposal’s publication to review the plan and organize community discussion before voting begins. The Hack That Started Balancer’s Decline Balancer’s path to this point traces directly back to a devastating security incident on November 3, 2025, when attackers exploited the protocol’s V2 Composable Stable Pools across multiple blockchain networks — including Ethereum, Base, Polygon, and Arbitrum — draining approximately $128 million in a single attack. Security researchers who analyzed the incident identified the root cause as a mathematical and rounding precision flaw within the pool’s core logic, allowing attackers to manipulate pool calculations and extract far more value than their actual deposited collateral warranted. The financial and reputational damage proved impossible to recover from.