Polkadot's first batch of parachain champions can't hold on either: Acala and Karura plan to shut down their chains in February next year.

Acala has submitted governance referendum #195 to shut down its Polkadot DeFi parachain, with sister chain Karura opening referendum #137 in parallel; if passed, both chains will halt block production on February 10, 2027. Holders must withdraw DOT, KSM, USDT and USDC to other networks by that date, while native ACA and KAR tokens cannot be bridged and will remain permanently on their respective ledgers; liquid staking unbonding deadlines run from December 16, 2026 for validator-bound LDOT to February 2, 2027 for LKSM. The exit follows Acala's win of Polkadot's first-ever parachain slot auction in November 2021, which drew over 81,000 addresses and locked more than 32.5 million DOT in crowdloans over a 96-week lease. The team cited fragmented liquidity across Polkadot's multi-parachain architecture and node maintenance costs exceeding revenue, and most first-batch auction winners have now exited or stalled, including Moonbeam's planned migration of GLMR to Base and Parallel Finance's product shutdown. Signaling votes currently show roughly 23.1 million ACA and 1.28 million KAR in favor with zero opposition; after passage, the team will submit an on-chain execution proposal, with unwithdrawn external assets to be returned to Asset Hub addresses on a best-efforts basis and treasury assets donated to the relay chain treasury.