Router Protocol calls it quits, leaving 303M ROUTE tokens to burn

Router Protocol, an infrastructure firm focused on cross-chain solutions backed by Coinbase Ventures, will shut down all of its operations by September 30. Its team announced in a Friday post on X that they will burn the 303,333,198 ROUTE tokens from its treasury.

ROUTE token holders found themselves hanging in the middle of the major announcement. The token is already worth less than 1% of its all-time high price. This comes at a time when crypto infrastructure firms have begun to abandon their fee-based models.

Router Protocol ends four-year run

The termination marks the end of a venture that has been working for almost four years toward building a monetized bridge between blockchain networks. The past year, Router had reported, was about pursuing business models and licensing and even outright acquisition of the project. However, none of those reached a result that could sustain a protocol team.

The tokens to be burned account for about 30% of ROUTE’s supply of almost one billion. At the same time, Router intends to work with centralized exchanges to delist ROUTE pairs from trading.

As reported, each exchange will have its own schedule for delisting and withdrawal of tokens. For those holding tokens on a centralized exchange, the protocol has advised them to consult the listing page of that particular exchange and withdraw them prior to its deadline.

Following the delistings, no new ROUTE projects will be initiated, and the protocol will remain outside of any markets or liquidity pools created after that point in time. Nevertheless, it is planning to open-source some of the software it developed so that other developers can use it.

Cheaper bridging erodes demand

The protocol highlighted a number of pressures affecting the firm at the same time. First, venture capital funding has shifted from cryptocurrency towards AI. It added that the cost of bridging assets between chains has decreased across the industry, while the use of assets has become more concentrated on fewer blockchains and less customized infrastructure.

Thereby, it reduced the need for the services provided by the protocol. “Bridging economics are thin, forcing fee compression against costs that never rest,” the founders said.

Router reportedly had a small team of fewer than 10 people on record, with a long development period funded through fundraising rather than revenue. In 2021, it received $4.1 million in funding from investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Polygon, Woodstock Fund, and QCP Capital, with Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, as an individual investor.

Router operated from Singapore, although most of its developers were based in India. Its founders were CEO Ramani Ramachandran and co-founders Shubham Singh, Chandan Choudhury, and Priyeshu Garg.

Crypto infrastructure shakeout deepens

Router’s own Layer 1, known as Router Chain, never got to the finish line as well. Launched in July 2024 and powered by a proof-of-stake protocol with ROUTE as a gas, governance, and security token.

The chain was unwound in September 2025 due to infrastructure bills, validator inflation, security vulnerabilities, and an intention to focus on its Open Graph Architecture project for building bridges and trading networks.

Problems related to security issues accompanied the project throughout the year. In the press release, Router highlighted the exploitation in February 2025, from which it managed to retrieve 80% of the funds via negotiations, and a chain-level attack in July, from which no funds were retrieved at all. The developers also mentioned that all protocol fees went to the purchase of ROUTE.

Router is not going to close down alone. Ethereum infrastructure firm Syndicate Labs decided to shut down its operations in May. It explained that the reason was the decreasing rollup market and shifting demand to the creation of custom chains. Bitcoin Layer 2 developer Botanix closed down in June, having determined that transaction fees cannot cover its expenses.