Linera and Switchboard announce closures a day apart

Two crypto projects announced closures a day apart. Linera, an a16z-backed layer-1 network, told its community on September 18 that it had ceased operations immediately and for the foreseeable future. A Sonar platform sale attracted close to $900,000 in commitments, below the $1.5 million USDC minimum target, so the team refunded every contribution. Linera then sought emergency funding to continue toward mainnet, but those efforts did not succeed. The project had raised $12 million across two seed rounds, with a16z crypto leading the first in 2022 and Borderless Capital leading the second in 2023. Linera is switching off its app and closing its Discord server. The team said points balances will remain in its records, but it cannot guarantee that the points will receive any consideration in the future. The announcement said the decision did not reflect on the technology, team or community and that the team still hoped to finish the protocol and launch applications on it in the future. Switchboard Technology Labs announced its wind-down on September 19. It told developers to move to providers such as Pyth or RedStone. The company said remaining support will end on September 25, 2026. It cited recent exploits and having exhausted all possible alternatives. The statement also said AI tools had reduced the cost of building an oracle, while the bear market had slowed new-chain launches and reduced budgets. Switchboard added that crypto had reduced the need for data intermediaries. RootData's 2026 tracker includes more than 260 projects and continues to add names. The tracker counts bankruptcies, announced closures and long-dormant sites together, so its entries represent different types of endings. The article also says hacks pushed several teams toward closure.