Pioneering zk-rollup Loopring shuts down DEX after failing to gain adoption

Ethereum's first zero-knowledge rollup, Loopring, closed its DEX and halted its relayer, citing lack of adoption, no business development skills, and being surpassed by modern zkEVM solutions.

• Loopring raised $45M in a 2017 ICO and was Ethereum's first zk-rollup, but never gained meaningful adoption.
• The team cited lack of a virtual machine, no composability, and no real-world payment use cases as key limitations.
• Major exchange delistings of LRC in 2026 accelerated the decision to shut down.
• TVL dropped 99% from $760M peak in Nov 2021 to about $8M; LRC token fell from $3.75 to $0.01.
• The team will distribute remaining funds directly to users' Ethereum wallets and cover gas fees.

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