Router Protocol will fully shut down at the end of September, with 303 million ROUTE tokens to be permanently burned.

Cross-chain protocol Router Protocol announced in a statement that after more than four years of development, it has decided to formally cease operations, with plans to complete a full shutdown by September 30, 2026. Router Protocol noted that over the past two years, Web3 has faced persistent tight liquidity, massive capital flows shifting to AI, while cross-chain infrastructure has encountered challenges including compressed fees, high operational costs, and industry demand concentrating on a small number of blockchains. The team had attempted to sustain the project through commercialization, technology licensing, and acquisitions, but none of these efforts resulted in a viable model to support the protocol team’s long-term operations. According to the announcement, during the shutdown process, Router will permanently burn the 303,333,198 pending ROUTE tokens in its treasury, and will coordinate with centralized exchanges to delist ROUTE trading pairs and related listings. Users holding ROUTE on exchanges must withdraw their assets by the deadlines specified in each exchange’s delisting and withdrawal arrangements. Additionally, Router Protocol will not launch any new initiatives related to ROUTE, and plans to open-source some of its technical components to preserve the engineering achievements accumulated over the past four years. The team stated that this shutdown is not the outcome it had hoped for, but it is currently the most honest and responsible choice for the community.