Linear Finance Calls It Quits as Cash Flow Runs Dry

• Linear Finance shuts down after Binance delists LINA and cash flow issues escalate.
• Tech wasn’t the problem—generating sustainable income proved to be the real challenge.

Linear Finance has finally decided to shut down all its operations after Binance announced that it would delist the LINA token from its trading list. It didn’t take long for the news to immediately hit LINA’s market value, dropping by around 65%.

Like a store that caught fire, the core team and stakeholders behind the project immediately made a quick decision—liquidation and exiting all positions.

Notice of Closure

After careful consideration, Linear Finance has made the difficult decision to cease operations.

Despite our ongoing efforts to innovate and build throughout the years, the project has struggled to generate sustainable returns. Outside of a brief period of…

— Linear Finance (@LinearFinance) March 27, 2025

The decision was announced publicly, leaving big questions for users who still had active positions in their application. Will the funds be returned? How to exit safely? The Linear team said they would soon contact users directly to explain the closure process.

Why Linear Finance Fell: Not Code, But the Cash Crisis

When it comes to technology, Linear Finance actually doesn’t have a big problem. The application runs, the functionality are mostly complete, and the community is engaged. However, this isn’t about who has the most advanced features or the coolest appearance; it’s about money.

More specifically, it’s about generating enough cash flow to stay afloat in the face of constant market pressures and rising operating costs.

They managed to survive through personal funds from the project owner and proceeds from token sales. However, that approach was not long-lasting enough. Once Binance announced that it would delist LINA, the effect was like turning off a light switch in the middle of the night: total darkness. With no liquidity and no way out, the only option left was to exit the arena.

Binance’s Cleanup Hits Multiple Tokens

It turns out that delisting LINA was not a one-off decision. Binance is indeed conducting a major cleanup. After a periodic review, the platform decided to delist and halt trading on all spot pairs of several tokens at once: Aergo (AERGO), AirSwap (AST), BurgerCities (BURGER), COMBO (COMBO), and of course Linear Finance (LINA). The schedule is clear: March 28, 2025.

On the other hand, Binance will also halt trading on several other token pairs in the near future, such as GALA/BNB and PERP/BTC on March 28 at 03:00 UTC, as well as USDT/CZK and USDT/RON on March 31 at 23:59 UTC.

This appears to be part of their effort to “improve the quality of the market,” as stated. But, for a project like Linear, which is already in limbo, this phase is the final sledgehammer.

Community Votes, But Decisions Still Come From the Top

Interestingly, before this storm came, Binance had introduced a new feature called ‘Vote to Delist.’ In essence, the community can help determine the fate of the token through voting. This idea sounds democratic on paper, but unfortunately, its real impact has not been seen much.

Moreover, in the case of Linear Finance, the delisting decision still seems to come from above, without waiting for a public vote.

Web3 Dreams Fade Without a Business Model

Linear is not the only project that has to close down in the near future. CNF recently reported that Harpie, a digital asset security service backed by Coinbase, has also chosen to close all its services. Again, the problem is not with the product but because of the difficulty in creating a stable and consistent income stream.

It is increasingly apparent that many Web3 projects that were once touted as the future of finance are now struggling because they lack a resilient business model. Simply having cutting-edge technology is not enough if no one is willing to pay to use it.