Goldfinch to close Prime after token holders approve wind-down

Token holders cast about 1.1 million GFI in favor of GIP-87, with no opposing votes recorded, moving the decentralized credit protocol into maintenance mode. The proposal surpassed quorum by more than four times before voting closed and directs the project to halt new product development and growth initiatives.

GIP-87, published by co‑founders Mike Sall and Blake West, calls for continued access to the legacy platform while prioritizing recoveries and loan management for troubled borrower pools. The plan instructs creation of a new trust to manage recovery efforts under the oversight of Chief Restructuring Officer Ted Gavin.

Warbler Labs, the protocol’s core development team, will receive a fixed payment of $150,000 to wind down Goldfinch Prime, maintain the legacy application and provide operational support for up to two years. The separate Prime application will be shut and existing Prime investors will be fully redeemed under the proposal.

Goldfinch began in 2021 with $11 million in funding and later facilitated roughly $100 million in loans. Several borrower pools subsequently experienced severe performance problems that led to multi‑year restructuring, recoveries and legal proceedings. Goldfinch introduced the Prime product in February 2025 to give non‑U.S. investors onchain access to private credit pools managed by firms including Apollo, Ares and Golub Capital; the proposal said Prime did not achieve sufficient adoption to justify further investment.

Community reaction included sharp criticism of past management decisions. One community member wrote that the protocol’s actions had cost people “thousands of dollars of savings.” Another described the borrower outcomes as “outrageous,” saying many deals had defaulted or gone bankrupt.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov commented on social media that the closure should not be taken as proof that undercollateralized onchain lending cannot work and suggested new underwriters will develop different models. Ram Ahluwalia, chief executive of Lumida, warned that the outcome highlights persistent credit risks and emphasized that technology cannot replace core underwriting elements such as capacity, collateral and character.

Goldfinch’s native token, GFI, traded near $0.06 after the vote and remained down more than 65% year to date. The governance decision shifts the project’s focus to recovery and maintenance as the team and community address outstanding loan restructurings and legal matters.