US EditionBalancer Labs to shut down following $110 million exploit, co-founder says in DAO post
Balancer Labs closes after a $110 million exploit led to a 95% TVL drop, prompting a leaner protocol with zero emissions and treasury fee restructuring.
- On Tuesday, Balancer co-founder Fernando Martinelli announced that Balancer Labs will shut down, citing legal exposure and sustainability issues following a major security breach.
- The decision follows a November 2025 v2 exploit that drained approximately $110 million in digital assets, marking the third security breach for Balancer.
- Balancer's Total Value Locked has plummeted 95% from its 2021 peak of nearly $3.5 billion to $157 million, while BAL trades at $0.16, down roughly 88% from its all-time high.
- Remaining team members propose cutting BAL emissions to zero, ending what Martinelli called a "circular bribe economy that costs more than it generates," while the DAO treasury captures 100% of revenue.
- Pending a governance vote, Essential BLabs team members may move to Balancer OpCo while Martinelli plans to serve as an advisor and facilitate a BAL buyback offering holders exit liquidity.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Balancer Labs to shut down following $110 million exploit, co-founder says in DAO post
Co-founder Fernando Martinelli said he considered winding down the entire protocol but decided the team deserved a chance to restructure, with the DAO targeting zero emissions, fee restructuring, and a BAL buyback to offer holders a fair exit.
Cryptopolitan
Bitcoin Ethereum NewsBalancer ends BAL emissions, rebuilds tokenomics after late 2025 hack
Balancer will overhaul its tokenomics in response to the late 2025 hack. The DeFi protocol, one of the most long-lived platforms, will change its reward system to stabilize the BAL token and rely on sustainable growth. Balancer has proposed a vote on a new reward system following the protocol’s difficulties after the November 2025 hack. As Cryptopolitan reported, Balancer was drained of $116M, with most of the funds targeting its wrapped ETH co…
Balancer Labs to Shut Down After $128M Exploit — What DeFi Users Must Know
Balancer Labs is ceasing operations permanently. The announcement comes just days after a sophisticated attacker exploited the protocol for approximately $128 million, effectively emptying major liquidity pools on November 3, 2025. This is not a drill—one of Ethereum’s oldest and most respected Automated Market Makers (AMMs) has fallen. The implications are staggering. Balancer was not a risky, experimental fork managed by anonymous developers; …
Balancer Labs shuts down operations in wake of $116m hack, pivots to lean DAO structure
Balancer Labs, the original corporate developer behind one of DeFi’s pioneering automated market maker protocols, is winding down operations. Co-founder Fernando Martinelli announced the pivot Monday in a forum post to the Balancer community. This decision wasn’t taken lightly. The pivot comes roughly four months after a November 2025 exploit syphoned at least $116 million from Balancer v2 pools across multiple chains. The fallout, combined with…
A victim of a critical fault operation last November, which resulted in the loss of $130 million, the Balancer Protocol is obviously having trouble getting up. A few months later, its co-founder announces the closure of the company Balancer Labs. What does this mean? The Balancer Labs article announces its closure following last November's hack - What does this imply? appeared first on Cryptoast.
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