Marcus Hardt, co-founder of Balancer Labs, has proposed a plan on the Balancer forum for winding down the DeFi protocol, dissolving the DAO, and distributing approximately $9 million among BAL token holders.

The voting period on Snapshot is set to run from September 25 to September 29.

— BaIancer Ecosystem (@BalancerEcos) September 15, 2026

A significant change in the proposal is the abandonment of a previously approved BAL buyback plan. Instead, Hardt suggests distributing the remaining treasury assets to token holders in proportion to their holdings, which will require users to burn their BAL tokens.

This initiative comes six months after the closure of Balancer Labs, which was prompted by a hack in November 2025 that resulted in a loss of $128 million. Hardt explained that a restructuring effort undertaken in spring 2026, which included cost-cutting measures and the launch of v3, failed to achieve sustainable profitability for the project.

The voting scenarios are as follows:

  • For. The previously planned token buyback program will be cancelled. The protocol's treasury (about $9 million) will be distributed proportionally among investors in exchange for burning their BAL tokens. Approximately $400,000 is earmarked for the technical execution of the wind-down process;
  • Against. The protocol will continue to operate. However, the proposal's authors caution that without a significant increase in revenue from fees, the treasury will gradually deplete to maintain the team’s operations, and in the event of an inevitable liquidation in the future, investors may receive significantly less or potentially lose their funds entirely.

If approved, the roadmap will be as follows:

  • October 30, 2026. Transition all liquidity pools to a safe "withdrawal-only" mode, halting the development of new products;
  • May 2027. Open the first six-month window (Round I) for burning BAL and receiving treasury payouts as an airdrop;
  • January 2028. Conduct the second phase (Round II) for distributing unclaimed funds.

According to the proposal, the final amount to be calculated will be fixed and audited at the block where the first round opens. BAL tokens and any assets convertible to them will be excluded from the distribution, except for those designated for tetuBAL holders.

Source: CoinGecko.

As reported by CoinGecko, the price of the native BAL token has plummeted over 99% from its peak of $72 in 2021 to just $0.11. The market capitalization has fallen from $783 million to the current $7.8 million.

It is worth noting that Balancer Labs announced its closure in March.