MAXYZ Seeks 6M BAL, Risking Smaller Wind-Down Payouts

MAXYZ, a group of former Balancer contributors, is seeking up to 6 million non-circulating BAL to seed a successor protocol. The request comes as Balancer considers a wind-down that would let eligible holders redeem BAL for a pro rata share of the DAO’s remaining assets. If granted tokens reach eligible holders before the proposed end-of-May 2027 snapshot, they could dilute existing holders’ share.

A Sept. 18 unaudited measurement cited in the wind-down proposal put non-BAL assets available for distribution at $9,959,416 against 63,068,821 redeemable BAL, or about $0.1579 per token at the prices used. Holding the asset value and other eligibility rules fixed, the proposal’s scenarios put the figure at about $0.1507 with 3 million additional eligible BAL, and $0.1442 if all 6 million become eligible. These are illustrations, not promised redemption prices.

Why it matters

MAXYZ proposes a contingent allocation of 10% of its fork’s fully diluted token supply, or equivalent value, to the Balancer treasury if the fork reaches a token generation event or another liquidity or exit event. That potential future payment has no realized value today, so holders face a trade-off between a potentially smaller share of the old treasury and conditional upside from a successor.

The grant is not approved, and a forum proposal alone does not transfer tokens or change pool operations. MAXYZ identifies about 3.5 million BAL in the treasury, 1.6 million in a Balancer Labs fundraising safe and 928,000 in a Labs team safe as potential sources. Authority over transfers from the entity-held safes remains a separate question.

Market impact

The amount that might become eligible before the snapshot is unknown, and the final asset pool and eligible supply will be measured again. The wind-down plan also leaves a separate vote on whether tetuBAL holders receive 50% or 100% of the BAL behind their permanent lock.

The proposals differ on timing, too: the wind-down plan would move pausable pools to withdrawals only on Oct. 30, with eligible v3 pool extensions through Nov. 30, while MAXYZ wants pools to remain unpaused until the end of the second quarter of 2027. The scheduled Sept.