Sablier Labs co-founder and CEO Paul Razvan Berg posted a blog update on July 13, announcing that it would cease active development of its token streaming protocol and operate in maintenance mode only until June 2028. The same day, the company also changed the licensing of its core EVM smart contracts from BSL 1.1 to GPL three years earlier, allowing developers to fork, modify, and redeploy immediately.
Existing processes continue to run; support for streaming withdrawals ends July 13
According to Berg’s announcement, the following are the specific changes and items that remain unchanged after Sablier Labs stops active development:
Unaffected items (continue operating):
· All existing token streams, vesting plans, and airdrops continue to run on-chain
· No need to close positions or take any action
· Users can continue accessing the existing interfaces until June 2028
Items that stop being supported starting July 13:
· Interfaces will no longer allow the creation of vesting schedules or airdrops that expire after June 2028
· Fully stop support for any open-ended payment streams
· No new products will be released, and it will not expand to new blockchain networks
Berg also noted that June 2028 is not the point when Sablier stops operating, but when the company-funded maintenance work ends; afterward, responsibility for the protocol is expected to be handed over to the broader community through the open-source, hosted version.
GPL license takes effect three years earlier; developers can fork immediately
According to reports, Sablier Labs’ core EVM smart contracts originally used the BSL 1.1 commercial license and were scheduled to switch to GPL open-source on July 1, 2029. Berg announced the switch three years early, with the GPL license taking effect on July 13, 2026. This allows any developer to immediately fork, modify, and redeploy the smart contracts without waiting until 2029.
Crypto media Bankless called this early license switch a “farewell gift” from Sablier to the community.
Reasons Sablier Labs is stopping development
According to Berg’s announcement, there are two key reasons for stopping active development: first, the sluggish cryptocurrency market has caused customers to delay token issuance, resulting in a significant drop in both users and revenue for Q1 2026 despite the most feature releases; second, the rise of AI-assisted coding technology has made Sablier’s services easier for competitors to replicate, reducing the room for differentiation.
Berg said that streaming as a technology ultimately serves more as a “feature” for other crypto solutions rather than forming an independent niche in the market.
FAQ
After Sablier Labs stops development, can existing users’ token streams and airdrops still be used?
According to Paul Razvan Berg’s announcement, all existing capital flows, vesting plans, and airdrops will remain valid and automatically run on-chain because all smart contracts are permissionless and non-custodial. Users do not need to close positions or take any actions, and the maintenance mode until June 2028 will not be affected.
Why did Sablier Labs change its license to GPL three years earlier?
According to reports, on July 13, Sablier Labs changed the licensing of its core EVM smart contracts from BSL 1.1 to GPL three years earlier (originally planned to take effect in July 2029), enabling any developer to immediately fork and redeploy; Bankless described this as the project’s “farewell gift” to the community.
What are the main reasons Sablier Labs announced it is stopping development?
According to Berg’s blog post, the main reasons include: a sharp decline in user count and revenue in Q1 2026 (despite the most feature releases); the emergence of AI-assisted coding technology making Sablier’s services easier to copy; and the inability to see a viable path to becoming an independently scaled VC-sized company.
