Balancer Labs co-founder Markus Hardt has put forward a community discussion plan to wind down the DeFi protocol, close the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), and distribute approximately $9 million among BAL token holders. Voting on the proposal will take place from September 25 to 29, 2026. Instead of the previously planned token buyback, Hardt proposes distributing treasury assets proportionally to investors' shares in exchange for burning their BAL tokens. The total amount of funds to be distributed will be fixed and audited at the block where the first round begins.
The primary reason for the liquidation is the closure of Balancer Labs, which occurred six months ago following a protocol hack in November 2025, resulting in a loss of $128 million. An unsuccessful attempt to restructure the project in the spring of 2026, accompanied by the launch of a new version of the protocol, did not lead to self-financing, notes Hardt. The plans include – halting new developments and transitioning liquidity pools to a safe "withdrawal-only" mode by October 30, 2026, as well as initiating mandatory token burning in May 2027.
According to CoinGecko, the price of the BAL token has fallen by more than 99% since reaching its peak in 2021 – from $72 to $0.11. The market capitalization of the token has decreased from $783 million to the current $7.8 million. Hardt also emphasizes that if the liquidation proposal is approved, by October 30, 2026, the liquidity pool will be switched to a safe mode intended only for withdrawals. Simultaneously, the planned token buyback program will be canceled, and the remaining funds will be proportionally distributed among investors who burn their BAL tokens. This decision is an attempt to allow each investor to recover part of their funds in the project's challenging financial situation. The liquidation and treasury distribution initiative is part of a closure plan developed under the company's financial insolvency conditions and aims to minimize losses for current token holders.
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