Tortola, British Virgin Islands - March 24th, 2026
Balancer's community has put forward two linked governance proposals that would materially reshape the protocol's token economics and operations. The measures, now posted for discussion on the Balancer governance forum, would eliminate ongoing BAL emissions, shift a larger share of swap fees to liquidity providers, and direct $3.6 million from the DAO Treasury to a BAL buyback and burn.
Most decentralized finance protocols rely on token emissions to attract and retain liquidity. Balancer currently disburses roughly 3.78 million BAL per year as emissions. The proposed changes would remove that ongoing subsidy and instead emphasize direct revenue capture by liquidity providers.
Higher earnings for liquidity providers
Under the current fee model, liquidity providers (LPs) receive 50% of swap fees collected by pools. The governance package would raise the LP share to 75%, with the remaining 25% of fees directed to the DAO Treasury. The stated rationale is to reward LPs more directly for the value they provide and to make organic liquidity - rather than emissions - the primary driver of capital allocation across pools.
Marcus Hardt, CEO of Balancer Labs, framed the move as aligning the protocol's economics with its functioning products: "The technology works. The products generate real revenue. These proposals fix the economics to match." Hardt is leading the transition to Balancer OpCo as the protocol restructures its operating model.
$3.6 million buyback at NAV and veBAL compensation
One proposal commits $3.6 million - described as approximately 35% of the DAO Treasury - to a BAL buyback and burn. The buyback would be priced at net asset value (NAV) per token, where NAV is defined as the total value of the Treasury divided by circulating supply. The proposal notes the current NAV is approximately $0.16, which is above the prevailing market price at the time of the proposal.
If the buyback option were fully exercised, the plan would retire about 22.7 million BAL tokens, which the proposal estimates to be roughly 35% of circulating supply. The program's purchase window is scheduled to open about 12 months after the governance snapshot, intentionally aligning with expirations of vote-locked BAL (veBAL) positions.
The proposals also include a separate compensation package: $500,000 earmarked for veBAL holders whose locked positions would lose certain economic rights under the revised model. That compensation would be distributed over a six-month period.
"Balancer is weathering the storm. These proposals give BAL holders the flexibility to exercise the buyback option at net asset value, or remain part of a DAO built for the long-haul," said Daniel Koch, Head of Operations at the Balancer Foundation.
Operational consolidation and product focus
A companion operational proposal would consolidate activity under a leaner Balancer Foundation as Balancer Labs winds down. The operational intent is to concentrate resources on core, revenue-generating products and on selected chains, while other deployments would be reviewed or potentially wound down.
The proposals are presented as a linked package to governance for community feedback, and the full text is available on the Balancer governance forum at forum.balancer.fi.
Context on recovery efforts
The package comes after the protocol’s response to a November 2025 exploit that affected Balancer V2 pools. The protocol has recovered approximately $26.4 million in affected funds, and a claiming process for impacted liquidity providers is currently live, with additional recovery work ongoing. The governance measures are described as building on those recovery actions and reworking Balancer’s economics for longer-term sustainability.
About Balancer
Balancer is a decentralized protocol for programmable liquidity, initially founded on Ethereum and deployed across multiple networks. Balancer V3 offers infrastructure for custom automated market makers, boosted pools, and concentrated liquidity products used by protocols, DAOs, and liquidity providers. Further information is available at balancer.fi.