I woke up today to some grim crypto news—Linear Finance, a DeFi protocol I’ve had on my radar, is calling it quits. After nearly five years, they’re shutting down, and their token, LINA, is taking a brutal hit—down 23% as I write this.
The announcement dropped Thursday on their Telegram, and it’s a gut punch. “Financial challenges” have dogged them since their September 2020 launch, and they just couldn’t make it work.
“The project’s been scraping by on the founder’s cash and token sales,” they said. “But that’s not cutting it anymore.” Honestly, it’s a bummer to see a cool idea crash and burn.
What Linear Was All About
Linear Finance had this neat gig going—letting folks tap into real-world assets like gold or forex through crypto “Synthetics” or “Liquids.” No need to own the actual stuff, just trade it on their decentralized platform.
Their token, LINA, was the backbone—used to mint their stablecoin LUSD or vote on big decisions. It was a slick setup, promising a bridge between old-school finance and DeFi.
I’ve been musing over DeFi shifts lately—Bitso’s MXNB stablecoin push, for one—and Linear felt like it fit that vibe. But keeping it profitable? That’s where the wheels fell off.
They admitted it in their notice: “We’ve struggled to generate sustainable returns.” Five years is a decent run, but in crypto, you’ve got to keep the lights on somehow.
Binance Delisting: The Final Blow
Here’s where it gets messy. On March 21, Binance dropped a bombshell—LINA was getting delisted, alongside four other tokens, effective March 28. Linear’s team was blindsided, claiming on Telegram they had “no prior warning.”
That news slashed LINA’s market cap from $14 million to under $6 million in days—a 65% nosedive. The Block’s price page shows the carnage: 23% down today alone.
“The Binance move wiped out our runway,” Linear said Thursday. It’s like a knockout punch after a long fight—tough to watch, especially after covering Kraken’s big plans recently.
Crypto’s brutal like that—one exchange’s call can sink a whole project. LINA’s trading now reflects the panic—folks are bailing fast.
I’m sitting here, coffee gone cold, thinking about the ripple effects. LINA’s collapse joins a string of DeFi stumbles—yet Bitso’s still pushing MXNB, and Kraken’s eyeing an IPO. The space keeps churning.
Will LINA holders recover? Doubtful—the token’s toast. But the idea? Maybe someone else picks up the torch. For now, I’m just soaking in the lesson: even cool concepts need cash to survive. Thoughts?
