Treasury performance, movements, protocol revenue and key actions. January to June 2026.
Since the start of our partnership in late 2022 (BIP-103), KPK has served as Balancer DAO’s strategic treasury partner, delivering non-custodial asset management, protocol integrations, and financial infrastructure. The first half of 2026 was shaped by a single priority: supporting the protocol’s recovery and rebuilding confidence after the November 2025 incident, while protecting the DAO’s stablecoin reserves and operational runway.
This review covers treasury activity and broader KPK contributions from January through June 2026.
The headline for H1 2026 is disciplined defense. The KPK-managed treasury closed June at $7.7M, down from $12.4M at the start of the year, as the DAO executed committed recovery outflows (including a $500,000 veBAL compensation airdrop), continued to stream BAL and USDC to the DAO for operations, and absorbed lower valuations on volatile assets. Through that drawdown, DeFi strategies stayed profitable every month, capital remained close to fully deployed, and the gross stablecoin runway was kept in line with the two-year target.
KPK also acted to support the DAO directly through the transition. In April 2026, as Balancer advanced its operational restructuring (BIP-918), its ecosystem roadmap and funding reset, and the BAL tokenomics revamp toward revenue-driven sustainability (BIP-919), KPK proactively removed its management and performance fees. No KPK fees were charged from April onward, so reported net DeFi results equal gross results from that point and the entire DeFi result was retained by the treasury.
Financial Update
KPK-Managed Treasury
In the first six months of 2026, the KPK-managed Balancer treasury achieved:
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Accumulated net DeFi revenue of $155,047.
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An average monthly APY of 4.6% on deployed capital.
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Positive DeFi results in every month of the period.
Based on the June 2026 monthly report, the KPK-managed treasury stood at:
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$7.7M of ncAUM (non-custodial assets under management).
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Close to full capital utilisation, with only 2.3% held as idle or protocol-owned liquidity.
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A monthly APY of 4.1%.
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Monthly DeFi results of $25,121.
The monthly evolution below sets out treasury size, gross and net DeFi results, KPK fees, APY and cumulative YTD results across the half. KPK management and performance fees were charged in January to March only. From April, KPK proactively removed both fees to support the DAO’s restructuring, so net and gross DeFi results are identical from April onward.
| Metric | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026 | Apr 2026 | May 2026 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treasury total (USD) | 12,356,692 | 10,206,417 | 9,729,756 | 9,705,032 | 8,786,762 | 7,728,531 |
| Gross DeFi result (USD) | 40,600 | 33,571 | 37,005 | 28,429 | 25,358 | 25,121 |
| Net DeFi result (USD) | 27,724 | 22,720 | 25,695 | 28,429 | 25,358 | 25,121 |
| Management fee 0.5% (USD) | 4,763 | 4,137 | 3,909 | - | - | - |
| Performance fee 20% (USD) | 8,113 | 6,714 | 7,401 | - | - | - |
| Monthly APY | 4.3% | 4.1% | 4.9% | 6.2% | 4.1% | 4.1% |
| Cumulative gross DeFi (USD) | 40,600 | 74,171 | 111,176 | 139,605 | 164,963 | 190,084 |
Management and performance fees are shown as nil from April because KPK proactively waived both fees from April 2026 in support of the DAO’s restructuring. Net DeFi results, therefore, equal gross from April. Monthly APY computed on deployed capital.
Treasury Movements and Composition
Through Q1, the treasury held a steady profile led by staking (roughly 60% of assets, primarily staked AAVE, ETH and GNO), supported by lending and yield vaults. That profile broke in April.
Following the rsETH bridge incident on 18 April (more details here), KPK executed precautionary exits that affected the overall treasury composition and preserved the treasury’s integrity without losing any capital. Lending fell from $1.64M in March to $47,107 in April, while idle and protocol-owned liquidity spiked to $3.83M (39.4% of assets) as unwound capital sat in stablecoins pending redeployment. Following these assets’ redeployment, by June, lending had returned to $2.41M, idle and POL had normalised to 2.3%, and staking held at $3.45M. No funds were lost in the episode.
| Strategy | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026 | Apr 2026 | May 2026 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staking & Savings | 6,667,558 | 6,098,294 | 6,038,359 | 4,061,565 | 3,665,325 | 3,454,381 |
| Lending | 2,365,039 | 1,814,770 | 1,644,993 | 47,107 | 392,332 | 2,414,809 |
| Yield vaults | 1,423,477 | 1,388,985 | 1,397,691 | 1,403,979 | 1,408,951 | 1,414,532 |
| BAL | 919,060 | 278,768 | 360,037 | 364,765 | 322,149 | 270,875 |
| Others (POL and idle) | 981,558 | 625,600 | 288,676 | 3,827,616 | 2,998,005 | 173,934 |
| Total (USD) | 12,356,692 | 10,206,417 | 9,729,756 | 9,705,032 | 8,786,762 | 7,728,531 |
Values in USD. April shows the precautionary de-risking (lending to $0.05M, idle and POL to $3.83M); positions were rebuilt into June.
The liquidity profile was also affected by these treasury moves. Instant liquidity held between 55% and 63% throughout, and from April the treasury reported no positions in the greater-than-one-week bucket, as staked AAVE cooldown reduced to two days and LST positions consolidated into the under-one-week tier. Part of the staking allocation was staked GHO, which migrated to Savings GHO in June. Savings GHO is immediately withdrawable, so it carries an instant liquidity profile despite sitting in the staking line. The overall liquidity profile is therefore mixed: staking leads the allocation, but a meaningful share of it is available on demand, leaving the treasury more liquid than the position labels suggest. This kept the treasury highly responsive to redemption and funding needs during a volatile period.
From April the reports show no positions beyond one week, as cooldown and LST positions consolidated into the under-one-week tier.
Balancer Revenue
DAO income, the revenue accruing to the treasury, combines net protocol fees, the Beets fee share, and DeFi results net of fees.
| DAO income | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026 | Apr 2026 | May 2026 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAO net fees (USD) | 17,540 | 20,266 | 14,299 | 92,216 | 27,976 | 97,230 |
| Beets fee share (USD) | 456 | 158 | 90 | - | - | - |
| DeFi results, net (USD) | 27,724 | 22,720 | 25,695 | 28,429 | 25,358 | 25,121 |
| Total DAO income (USD) | 45,720 | 43,144 | 40,084 | 120,645 | 53,334 | 122,351 |
From February 2026, DAO net fees and the Beets fee share are sourced from the Balancer DAO Revenue Dune dashboard. The Beets share was dropped from the breakdown from April given the overall Balancer restructuring.
Runway and Solvency
Runway held up well through the drawdown. Gross runway ranged between 3.68 and 4.62 years, and gross stablecoin runway (excluding BAL) stayed close to or above two years throughout, ending June at 2.36 years. Net runway rose to 11.05 years by June, though that figure is sensitive to the revenue forecast, which uses a trailing three-month average and rose to $1.19M in June.
Scope: January and February are KPK-managed only; from March the runway consolidates the Balancer OpCo alongside the KPK-managed treasury, so March is not directly comparable to February. Forecast expenses are annualised from quarterly figures under BIP-873 and, from March, BIP-918.
From April, the reports added a forward runway view that stress-tests the stablecoin position against known and potential recovery outflows:
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Committed: veBAL compensation of $500,000 (airdropped in May, subsequently marked complete).
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Earmarked: a BAL buyback of $3,605,000, capped at 35% of the non-BAL treasury as approved at Snapshot.
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Contingent: a bug-bounty buffer of up to $1,000,000.
Against these, the June forward view shows gross stablecoin runway falling to roughly break-even after the earmarked and contingent items, and the reports flag approximately $2.96M of volatile assets that would need to be sold to restore gross stablecoin runway above the 1.5x floor. This is the central treasury tension heading into H2: funding the BAL buyback and recovery commitments without dropping the stablecoin reserve below policy.
Balancer DAO Trends
1. Navigating recovery after the November 2025 incident: Balancer closed 2025 with a late-year protocol exploit. H1 2026 treasury strategy was built around supporting the protocol’s recovery and rebuilding confidence, which meant prioritising stablecoin reserves, keeping volatile exposure prudent.
2. Structural consolidation: OpCo and treasury scope. From March, the runway and solvency view consolidated the Balancer OpCo alongside the KPK-managed treasury, giving a fuller picture of DAO-owned stablecoins and BAL and the DAO’s true operating runway. Forecast expenses were updated to reflect BIP-918 in addition to BIP-873. This broadened the reporting lens from the managed treasury to the consolidated DAO balance sheet and is the main reason the March runway figures step up relative to February.
3. Funding the recovery: veBAL compensation and the BAL buyback: two large capital commitments defined the half. A $500,000 veBAL compensation airdrop was committed in April and executed in May. Separately, the DAO earmarked a BAL buyback of $3.605M, capped at 35% of the non-BAL treasury as approved at Snapshot, alongside a contingent bug-bounty buffer of up to $1M. KPK built these into a forward runway framework so the DAO can size the buyback against its stablecoin floor rather than in isolation.
4. Sustained transparency through reporting: KPK continued publishing monthly financial reports to the Balancer forum (per BIP-648), covering treasury balances, allocation, protocol and DAO revenue, and runway, and opened the year with the 2025 Annual Review in January.
5. Continued permissions and execution maturity: KPK submitted Permissions Update Request (PUR) #8 (BIP-909, February), PUR #9 (April), and PUR #10 extending and refining the treasury’s execution permissions while preserving strong controls and a clear separation of responsibilities. These updates kept execution capability aligned with a fast-changing position set, including the April de-risking and the subsequent rebuild.
Lookback on the Mandate
In the first half of 2026, KPK remained focused on executing its role as Balancer DAO’s strategic treasury partner under conditions that tested the mandate directly.
1. Operational execution and treasury oversight: KPK maintained responsibility for routine treasury operations across Ethereum Mainnet and Gnosis Chain, including position monitoring, transaction execution, and permissions management. Execution followed established controls and governance-defined constraints. During the rsETH event this discipline enabled a response measured in minutes rather than hours.
2. Risk management under stress: KPK exited every actionable at-risk position without loss, relied on protocol-level market freezes where exits were pre-empted, and rebuilt deployment over the following weeks as conditions stabilised. Capital preservation, not yield maximisation, was the operative objective.
3. Capital preservation and runway defense: Through a 37.5% treasury drawdown, partially due to Balancer’s operating expenses and the overall market drawdown, KPK held gross stablecoin runway close to or above two years and kept capital almost fully deployed outside the brief post-exploit period. The stablecoin reserve remained the anchor of the DAO’s solvency position.
4. Sustained collaboration: KPK continued to coordinate closely with the Balancer Foundation, Maxis, and contributors across reporting, permissions, and recovery planning, and continued active participation within the Balancer ecosystem.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The first half of 2026 was a period of recovery for Balancer, and KPK managed the treasury defensively throughout: generating positive DeFi results every month, keeping the stablecoin runway in line with the two-year target, and protecting capital through the rsETH event without loss.
The direction of travel is encouraging: the operational restructuring, the ecosystem roadmap, and the shift toward a revenue-driven tokenomics model are moving the DAO from emission-subsidised growth toward durable, fee-based revenue.
Early figures are consistent with that shift, with notably stronger protocol-fee capture by the DAO in April and June and, with KPK fees waived, more of the DeFi result retained by the treasury. These are early signals, but the trend since April is constructive.
KPK intends to continue as Balancer’s treasury partner through the next phase, and we look forward to the work ahead.