Loopring Shuts Down DEX After Years of Decline

Overview

• Loopring disclosed Monday that it has stopped all DEX trading and taken its relayer offline while preparing a wind‑down of the protocol.
• The team said the protocol’s zk‑rollup design lacked an EVM‑compatible virtual machine, which limited smart‑contract composability and slowed developer and user adoption.
• Loopring will publish final balances, allow a two‑week review window, then distribute funds to whitelisted Ethereum addresses in batched transactions with the team covering gas fees.
• The shutdown replaces the original trustless exit with a centralized withdrawal process that excludes accounts with final balances under $10 and requires team‑controlled whitelisting.
• The closure follows years of falling activity, a near 99% drop in TVL from the 2021 peak, exchange delistings in 2026, and sits within a wider wave of project wind‑downs that year while raising questions about how early zk‑rollup work will be reused.