SYND Crashes to All-Time Low as Syndicate Labs Announces Wind-Down

The Syndicate (SYND) token dropped to a fresh all-time low today after Andreessen Horowitz-backed Syndicate Labs announced it was shutting down.

Market data showed the token fell to $0.01061 following the announcement. At press time, it was trading at $0.012, down nearly 23% over the past day.

Why Syndicate Labs Is Shutting Down

Syndicate initially started by building infrastructure for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). The company raised $20 million in a 2021 Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

In an X post, the team said that the rollup market has fundamentally shifted. It noted that the wind-down decision was necessary, given those conditions.

“Unfortunately, the rollup market has shrunk dramatically. For every new rollup spinning up, several more are quietly shutting down. The market has shifted away from our technology, making it impossible to wait out these market conditions. EVM rollups are no longer the standard,” the post read.

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Syndicate Labs also clarified that its shutdown was not connected to last month’s Commons Bridge exploit. According to CertiK, the attacker obtained around 18.5 million SYND tokens and sold them for roughly $330,000 before bridging the funds to Ethereum.

The company added that all impacted holders were fully reimbursed using treasury funds reserved for incidents of this nature.

What Happens to SYND and the Wider Network

The team emphasized that Syndicate operates as two separate entities. Syndicate Labs handles development. The Syndicate Network Collective, a Wyoming Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (DUNA), holds SYND tokens and governance authority.

The team said SYND governance will not be impacted in the near term. The collective remains open to a successor preserving the DUNA, and has prepared an orderly wind-down plan should one not emerge.

“Team members and investors remain locked, with no affiliated individual able to access their allocations. We structured our vesting to align with long-term incentives, and no team member or investor has received any short-term benefit,” Syndicate Labs mentioned.

The team concluded by stating that its codebase will remain open source, permanently accessible, and available for contributors regardless of the future of Syndicate Labs or the Syndicate Network Collective.

Whether a credible successor entity emerges in the coming weeks to steward the DUNA will likely determine SYND’s long-term fate.

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