Balancer Proposes Orderly Wind Down

A new governance proposal is seeking to wind down the Balancer protocol and dissolve its DAO, with $9 million in remaining treasury assets slated for BAL token holders. The proposal comes from Balancer core contributor Marcus Hardt, who outlined challenging headwinds since the Balancer exploit in November 2025. The orderly wind down proposal would transition pausable contract pools into withdrawals-only mode and set protocol fees to zero for non-pausable pools.

If approved, the Balancer DAO's treasury will be distributed in kind and pro rata to circulating BAL holders. The proposal requests a capped budget of $400,000 to fund a minimal transition team and manage an eight-month phased sunset from November 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. No action is required from Balancer users while discussion is underway. BAL token holders will vote on whether to proceed with the wind down, with Snapshot voting expected to open as early as September 24, 2026.

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