Router Protocol has announced the closure of all operations and the end of its activities by September 30, 2026. As part of this process, the project plans to burn 303,333,198 ROUTE tokens held in its treasury. This represents over 30% of the maximum token supply of one billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Following the announcement, the ROUTE token dropped by 50%, reaching a new all-time low, highlighting the market's negative reaction to this news.
According to the Router Protocol team, the closure is due to a lack of funding and a sharp decline in revenue, making the project's continued existence impossible. Over the past two years, the startup has faced financial instability, prompting it to seek commercial agreements and other survival opportunities, but none of the proposals yielded the expected results. In a closed statement, the team described their decision as "the most honest and responsible choice for the community." All project services will cease operations by the end of September, and users will be given time to withdraw funds from centralized platforms, which will determine the timelines for delisting the ROUTE token themselves.
The ROUTE token, which was a key component of the Router ecosystem, remains on the brink of liquidity as trading activity has significantly decreased. At the time of closure, the token price had fallen to $0.00003970, making its trading capitalization approximately $40,000. After ceasing operations, Router Protocol plans to open the source components of its software to developers to preserve some of the work done over its four years of existence. In light of profound changes in the Web3 ecosystem and minimal access to capital, the project can no longer sustain itself.