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Sablier Labs Shuts Down Development, Enters Maintenance Mode Through 2028
On July 13 2026, Sablier Labs announced that it will cease active development of its on‑chain token‑streaming protocol and enter a structured maintenance phase that will run until June 2028. The decision follows a noticeable drop in transaction volume and revenue, as well as a broader shift in the Web3 payments ecosystem.
Founder Paul Razvan Berg posted the update on the company’s website, explaining that the protocol will remain fully functional for existing streams, vesting contracts, and airdrop mechanisms. However, users will no longer be able to create new open‑ended payment streams through the front‑end after mid‑July, and the company reassured that no withdrawals or closures of active agreements are required.
Sablier’s transition plan is laid out in several clear milestones. In July 2026, the core smart contracts will be released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and made available on GitHub, allowing developers worldwide to fork, edit, and deploy the code. The company will continue to maintain the database infrastructure, API endpoints, and web portal until the end of the maintenance period. In June 2028, the maintenance phase will conclude, and the protocol’s infrastructure will be fully handed over to community hosting. After that date, the protocol will operate as a permanent decentralized public good.
The move to halt development reflects a mix of market and technological factors. In the first half of 2026, Sablier’s transaction volume and corporate revenues fell sharply, according to the company’s own metrics. The decline coincided with a cooling of the initial‑token‑offering (ICO) ecosystem, which caused many institutional clients to delay project launches. At the same time, advances in AI‑assisted software development lowered the cost of building basic smart contracts, increasing competition from in‑house solutions and low‑overhead copycat protocols.
Sablier’s business model, built on the assumption that decentralized employers, vendors, and services would adopt continuous, real‑time token payments, has not achieved the scale required for a venture‑level operation. The founder noted that token streaming has become a niche feature within specialized treasury operations, while speculative trading, cross‑border remittance, and decentralized lending remain the dominant drivers of crypto activity.
Despite the pivot, Sablier’s legacy in the DeFi space is significant. The protocol has processed transactions from more than 345,000 unique Ethereum wallets, completed over 837,000 on‑chain transactions, and distributed more than 547,000 token disbursements across 30 EVM‑compatible chains and Solana. According to the company’s public data, no smart‑contract exploits or client capital losses have been recorded.
The transition also involves a shift in licensing. Sablier’s original Business Source License (BSL) 1.1, which had a planned open‑source transition in 2029, was accelerated to a GPL release in July 2026. This change removes legal friction for external developers who wish to build on the protocol.
Looking ahead, Sablier Labs will publish integration blueprints and hosting guides before the June 2028 deadline to help DAOs, user collaboratives, and third‑party infrastructure providers assume responsibility for the front‑end. The primary risk for users with streams that extend beyond the transition period is potential front‑end or RPC node interruptions, which would require community‑led solutions.
In summary, Sablier Labs has moved from a venture‑backed growth model to a community‑steered maintenance phase. The protocol will remain operational for existing users, but new open‑ended streams will be disabled until the end of 2028. The company’s open‑source release and planned handover aim to preserve the protocol’s utility while acknowledging the economic realities of the current Web3 payments market.
Founder Paul Razvan Berg posted the update on the company’s website, explaining that the protocol will remain fully functional for existing streams, vesting contracts, and airdrop mechanisms. However, users will no longer be able to create new open‑ended payment streams through the front‑end after mid‑July, and the company reassured that no withdrawals or closures of active agreements are required.
Sablier’s transition plan is laid out in several clear milestones. In July 2026, the core smart contracts will be released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and made available on GitHub, allowing developers worldwide to fork, edit, and deploy the code. The company will continue to maintain the database infrastructure, API endpoints, and web portal until the end of the maintenance period. In June 2028, the maintenance phase will conclude, and the protocol’s infrastructure will be fully handed over to community hosting. After that date, the protocol will operate as a permanent decentralized public good.
The move to halt development reflects a mix of market and technological factors. In the first half of 2026, Sablier’s transaction volume and corporate revenues fell sharply, according to the company’s own metrics. The decline coincided with a cooling of the initial‑token‑offering (ICO) ecosystem, which caused many institutional clients to delay project launches. At the same time, advances in AI‑assisted software development lowered the cost of building basic smart contracts, increasing competition from in‑house solutions and low‑overhead copycat protocols.
Sablier’s business model, built on the assumption that decentralized employers, vendors, and services would adopt continuous, real‑time token payments, has not achieved the scale required for a venture‑level operation. The founder noted that token streaming has become a niche feature within specialized treasury operations, while speculative trading, cross‑border remittance, and decentralized lending remain the dominant drivers of crypto activity.
Despite the pivot, Sablier’s legacy in the DeFi space is significant. The protocol has processed transactions from more than 345,000 unique Ethereum wallets, completed over 837,000 on‑chain transactions, and distributed more than 547,000 token disbursements across 30 EVM‑compatible chains and Solana. According to the company’s public data, no smart‑contract exploits or client capital losses have been recorded.
The transition also involves a shift in licensing. Sablier’s original Business Source License (BSL) 1.1, which had a planned open‑source transition in 2029, was accelerated to a GPL release in July 2026. This change removes legal friction for external developers who wish to build on the protocol.
Looking ahead, Sablier Labs will publish integration blueprints and hosting guides before the June 2028 deadline to help DAOs, user collaboratives, and third‑party infrastructure providers assume responsibility for the front‑end. The primary risk for users with streams that extend beyond the transition period is potential front‑end or RPC node interruptions, which would require community‑led solutions.
In summary, Sablier Labs has moved from a venture‑backed growth model to a community‑steered maintenance phase. The protocol will remain operational for existing users, but new open‑ended streams will be disabled until the end of 2028. The company’s open‑source release and planned handover aim to preserve the protocol’s utility while acknowledging the economic realities of the current Web3 payments market.
