Sablier

Sablier is a decentralized token distribution protocol that enables continuous, by-the-second vesting and payment streaming across Ethereum and other blockchains, including Solana. Founded in 2019 by Paul Razvan Berg and backed by a16z Crypto and Fenbushi Capital, the protocol accumulated over 345,000 unique Ethereum addresses and 837,000 transactions across its EVM deployments before entering maintenance mode in July 2026.

Core Mechanism

The protocol's central concept is token streaming: rather than releasing locked tokens in discrete tranches, Sablier allows value to flow continuously over time. Recipients can withdraw vested tokens at any point during a stream, making allocations accessible on an ongoing basis rather than locked until a cliff date. This model applies to payroll, investor and team vesting, grant programs, and token airdrops.

Sablier organizes its functionality into two main contract families. Lockup contracts time-lock token distributions and support multiple stream shapes:

• Linear: Tokens vest at a steady rate from start to end.
• Cliff: Tokens vest linearly after an initial lockup period passes.
• Monthly: Tokens distribute in discrete monthly tranches.
• Dynamic/Custom: User-defined curves for non-linear distribution schedules.

Flow contracts support open-ended payment streams without fixed end dates, suited for ongoing payroll or subscription-style arrangements.

For airdrops, Sablier offers Merkle Instant, a Merkle tree-based distribution program that allows eligible recipients to claim their full allocation at launch rather than receiving tokens gradually over time.

Blockchain Deployment

Sablier originally launched on Ethereum and expanded to over 30 EVM chains, including Arbitrum, Polygon, Optimism, Base, and Avalanche. In September 2025, the team extended the protocol to Solana at solana.sablier.com.

Sablier on Solana

The Solana deployment supported a narrower feature set than the EVM version. Supported stream types were limited to Lockup Linear (continuous by-the-second vesting) and Merkle Instant (one-time airdrop claims), reflecting differences in Solana's programming model compared to EVM. Several EVM features were not available on Solana: non-transferable streams (constrained by Solana's NFT standard), cancel and withdraw hooks, and centralized contract-based token storage. Instead, each stream stored tokens in a dedicated Associated Token Account.

Fees on Solana were priced at one dollar per withdrawal and two dollars per claim, denominated in SOL.

In June 2026, Sablier Labs scaled back the Solana interface from a full-featured application to a claiming-only app. New stream creation and stream management features were disabled. The solana.sablier.com interface retained only wallet connection, vesting NFT review, and withdrawal functionality. The underlying Solana programs remain deployed on-chain and open source, meaning developers can interact with them directly or build on top of the contracts, but the official product experience is limited to legacy claim support.

Maintenance Mode

On July 13, 2026, Sablier Labs announced it was entering maintenance mode and halting active product development. Co-founder Paul Razvan Berg cited a sharp decline in usage and revenue during Q1 2026, pointing to two causes: customers postponing token launches as crypto markets weakened, and AI-assisted coding tools lowering the cost for competitors to replicate Sablier's products. Berg stated that "there isn't a venture-scale business in onchain token distribution/money streaming."

Under the maintenance terms:

• Existing streams, vesting schedules, and airdrops continue operating uninterrupted.
• The official frontend remains supported through June 2028.
• Starting July 13, 2026, the platform no longer accepts new vesting streams or airdrops with end dates beyond June 2028; open-ended Flow streams are fully blocked.
• After June 2028, the frontend transitions to community management.

At the same time, Sablier accelerated the open-source license transition for its primary EVM smart contracts from BUSL 1.1 to GPL, moving the effective date from July 2029 to July 2026 immediately. This permits anyone to fork, modify, and redeploy the contracts without restriction.

Security and Track Record

Throughout its operational history, Sablier's contracts have experienced zero security incidents. The EVM codebase was audited by Cantina, CodeHawks, and five additional security firms. The contracts are designed to be immutable once deployed, removing upgrade-related risk vectors. The protocol ran for seven years across hundreds of millions of dollars in total value processed without a recorded exploit.

Team and Backing

Sablier Labs was co-founded by Paul Razvan Berg in 2019 and received backing from a16z Crypto and Fenbushi Capital. The development team helped pioneer on-chain continuous token distribution before "DeFi" was a widely used term. The company did not raise further capital rounds and is winding down as an active development organization while the on-chain contracts continue to operate.