Router Protocol announces shutdown and destroys 303 million ROUTE tokens

Router Protocol announced the end of cross-chain business and will close all operations and destroy treasury tokens before September 30, 2026.

Router Protocol recently announced that after more than four years of cross-chain development, the project has decided to terminate operations. According to the announcement, Router Protocol will gradually shut down all services by September 30, 2026, and permanently destroy the 303,333,198 million ROUTE tokens held in its treasury.

Since the news was announced, the price of ROUTE token has plunged by about 50%, setting a record low. This move marks the project's "honest and responsible" farewell decision despite two years of financial pressure.

Low revenue and capital shortages make the project unsustainable.

The Router Protocol pointed out in its official statement that meager revenue and restrictions on capital access channels made it impossible for the team to find a path to maintain sustainable operations of cross-chain projects. According to the team, liquidity in the Web3 field has been scarce for about two years, and a large number of investors 'attention and funds have flowed to the artificial intelligence field.

Within the interoperability market, increasing competition has led to lower bridging costs, while user activity is highly concentrated on a few mainstream networks. Although Router continues to run infrastructure on multiple blockchains, revenue generated by its bridging services no longer covers development and operating costs.

In the past year, the team has actively explored commercialization agreements, technology licensing and possible acquisition opportunities, but none of them has received sufficient funds to support long-term operations. Therefore, the team believes that shutting down is the most responsible choice to explain to the community.

Treasury Token Destruction and Exchange Removal Arrangements

As part of the closure plan, Router Protocol will send 303,333198 million ROUTE tokens in the Treasury to an address that is no longer in circulation for permanent destruction. According to data released by CoinMarketCap, this is equivalent to more than 30% of the maximum supply of 1 billion yuan for the token.

team stated that during project operations, its agreement fees have been used for the repurchase and destruction of ROUTE rather than establishing a large revenue reserve. Since bridge revenue cannot fund remaining infrastructure maintenance, the pending treasury funds will be permanently destroyed.

In addition, Router plans to work with centralized exchanges to remove ROUTE trading pairs and related listings. Each exchange will set its own schedule for suspending recharge, stopping transactions and ending withdrawals. This means that holders cannot rely on September 30 as a uniform withdrawal deadline.

For ROUTE holders stored on a centralized platform, it is recommended to pay close attention to the notices from their exchanges and withdraw assets before the specified deadline. The team warned that any ROUTE liquidity pool created after the official exchange was removed has nothing to do with Router Protocol or its developers.

Review: From Cross-Chain Infrastructure to Open Source Heritage

Router Protocol began with the construction of cross-chain infrastructure four years ago, and eventually developed Router Nitro, a messaging framework, and a Layer 1 network Router Chain based on Cosmos ecosystem technology.

In July 2024, the Router Chain main network will be launched, aiming to connect applications and assets on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cosmos ecosystem and other blockchain. ROUTE serves as a Gas fee and pledge token for the network. At the same time, the project also provides a cross-chain intent framework that allows developers to add cross-chain functionality to decentralized applications.

However, the cost of operating independent networks is becoming increasingly high. In September 2025, the community voted to retire Router Chain, and the project's focus has since shifted to Open Graph Architecture, an infrastructure layer designed to connect bridges, decentralized exchanges, and transaction solvers.

Security issues also affected the final phase of the project. Router's closure statement mentioned a vulnerability incident related to a solver in February 2025, in which approximately 80% of the affected funds were recovered through negotiation. Subsequently, a chain-level accident occurred in July 2025, and the assets stolen in the incident could not be recovered. Cross-chain systems have long faced severe security pressures due to the need to verify assets or messages between chains with different rules. Data shows that since 2021, the amount of bridges stolen has exceeded US$4 billion.

Currently, Router does not blame the shutdown on new vulnerabilities, but instead clearly points to falling revenue, high operating costs, scarcity of Web3 capital, and failed financing or acquisition efforts as the main reasons why it cannot continue to maintain its business.

ROUTE prices fell to record lows

ROUTE suffered a fierce sell-off due to the closure notice. Data shows that as of press time, ROUTE's trading price was close to US$0.00006, down by about 50% in 24 hours, and more than 58% in the first seven days. The intraday low hit $0.00003970, setting a record low. Compared with the peak of $0.08078 in July 2024, the current price has dropped by approximately 99.9%.

With the circulation supply of approximately 680 million units, its market value has shrunk to approximately US$40,000. Although trading volume has increased, the market depth is limited and bid-ask spreads are large, resulting in small orders that may also trigger sharp price fluctuations.

After the operation, Router plans to release some technical components as open source software. The team said the move aims to preserve some of the project's four years of engineering results and allow developers to continue to use these components independently.