Everclear shuts down: The cross-chain clearing and settlement network (backed by Pantera Capital and Polychain) has just announced it is winding down all operations after failing to build a sustainable business model. The protocol, initially launched in 2017 as Connext with early support from the Ethereum Foundation, has been sunsetted, with all remaining total value locked (TVL) to be withdrawn by users and partners.
Everclear shuts down: The context
Seems quite sad that these closures are still happening in the crypto space. So far, the team acknowledged a disconnect between usage and revenue. “Despite reaching $500 million in monthly volume, the cross-chain solvers segment never developed the commercial depth we needed,” the announcement stated.
Users proved highly price-sensitive, they said, making it impossible to convert volume into meaningful revenue. Over the past six months, Everclear pivoted to a Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) model, signing several major industry partners, but underestimated how long those integrations would take to go live. The team’s runway ran out before the partners could launch. Acquisition options were also explored but proved unsuccessful.
Co-founder Arjun Bhuptani (now Arya) reflected on nine years of building, noting the team shipped the first production Layer-2 (L2) in 2018, contributed to MolochDAO [a minimalist collective funding, open-source decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)], pioneered the first intent-based bridge in 2020, created the chain abstraction vision, and processed over $6 billion in network volume.
What happens to CLEAR token
Similar to other cases in the crypto sector, the market reaction was immediate and brutal. CLEAR token dropped over 48 percent in 24 hours, wiping out most of its remaining market value. The team stated that Everclear plans to use the remaining treasury funds to settle outstanding liabilities. They added that if funds remain, the team is exploring a token buyback estimated between $50,000 and $200,000; this is a relatively small figure compared to the project’s historical funding rounds. But the buyback is not certain, and full details will be shared before anything is finalized.
What’s Next for the Project
The Everclear User Interface (UI) and chain are pretty much dead right now. The Foundation still has the rights to everything, but they’re looking into making the code open source. This means the DAO or some random devs could potentially pick up the pieces and keep it going if they wanted. For now, the DAO is still hanging in there.