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Everclear, a leading cross-chain settlement protocol, has announced that it is shutting down its operations, including Foundation, its Labs, and its entire product development operations.
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According to the official post, the platform has failed to generate profitable revenue despite the high transaction volumes.
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The Everclear DAO will continue operations after the shutdown of the Foundation and Labs.
On May 21, Everclear, a cross-chain settlement protocol, announced that it is shutting down its operations, including Foundation, its Labs, and its entire product development operations. With this announcement, Everclear is joining the latest trend where DeFi platforms are leaving the sector due to revenge challenges.
Today we’re sharing difficult news: we have made the decision to wind down Everclear (Foundation / Labs and building the product).
— Everclear (@EverclearOrg) May 21, 2026
The project was launched under the name Connext in 2017. In the official announcement, the Everclear team stated that ongoing challenges with generating revenue are the main reason behind their decision to shut down operations completely. However, the protocol had recorded strong transaction volumes recently.
In the official announcement, the team stated that the protocol has now been shut down, and both its user interface and the related blockchain networks have been taken offline.
In order to avoid panic among its users, the Everclear team clarified that no user funds are locked on the protocol. Users and partners had already withdrawn all the funds locked on the protocol before it went dark. The team also shared contract details to claim any remaining funds.
The Everclear DAO is still running its operations, and it is currently assessing the options to make the protocol open source. This will allow new teams to look after their maintenance.
The remaining funds from the platform will be used to cover outstanding debts and liabilities. Also, if there are still enough resources left, the team might carry out a buyback of the CLEAT token, with an estimated amount between $50,000 and $200,000.
Everclear Faces Revenue Challenges Despite Strong Activities
Everclear used to call itself a decentralized clearing layer to solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation across different blockchain networks. The protocol was an efficient cross-chain settlement using a system of solvers and intents. During its peak period, Everclear was generating over $500 million in monthly transaction volume and had attracted major partners from the DeFi sector.
However, it was an uphill task for the protocol to convert that high volume into a constant revenue. The reason behind this was that users were very sensitive to fees, which made it difficult for the protocol to charge high amounts for the service.
The official post stated that, “Despite reaching $500M in monthly volume, the cross-chain solvers segment never developed the commercial depth we needed – users proved highly price-sensitive, and we were unable to convert that volume into meaningful revenue.”
“Over the past six months we pivoted to a B2B2C model, focusing on partnerships with major industry players. Several significant names signed on, but we underestimated how long it would take those partners to go live – and our runway ran out before they did,” mentioned in the post.
In the last 24 hours, the CLEAR token’s price plunged by around 22%, and it is currently trading at around $0.0002608 with a market capitalization of around $224.75K. However, there is no user fund stuck on the protocol, and the remaining users are already pulling out their investment from the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has also plunged below $78,000.
Everclear has joined the growing list of cryptocurrency projects that have left the DeFi sector in 2026.
In March, Balancer Labs, an entity behind the Balancer decentralized exchange, announced the shutdown of its operation after a major hack, which also triggered revenue pressures.
Tally, a leading platform for DAO governance that was used by over 500 protocols, including Uniswap and Arbitrum, wound down its operation in March after facing issues like unsustainable costs and changing market conditions.
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