Balancer Labs, the founding company of Balancer, a leading automated market maker in the DeFi space, announced it was ceasing operations after suffering a devastating $116 million attack in November 2025. Co-founder Fernando Martinelli stated that legal risks, unsustainable revenue, and the burden of maintaining the company's structure related to the hack were the reasons for the shutdown. The attack exploited a vulnerability in the Balancer Protocol V2 vault architecture, highlighting the risks inherent in the design of complex, composable DeFi systems. Martinelli clarified that the Balancer Protocol itself will not be terminated, and its future will be determined by community governance.