[Hats Finance to Cease Centralized Custody Front-End and Server Operations on December 31] The decentralized security project Hats Finance announced on the X platform that Hats.finance will permanently shut down its custodial operations, as it believes continuing to run a centralized user interface (UI) and server is unsustainable. Additionally, there are currently no plans to adopt new legal or operational frameworks to maintain this custodial structure. The current arrangements are as follows: Hats.finance's custodial user front-end and back-end (UI and server) are expected to go offline on December 31, 2025, with most functions relying on this custodial architecture being gradually phased out. The Hats protocol will remain deployed on-chain and managed by the DAO, with core contracts designed to operate continuously according to code. At present, the user front-end has provided an IPFS-based version, which users can access via public gateways as long as the version remains available. However, since payments to current fixed service providers (such as Pinata) will cease, its continued availability and performance cannot be guaranteed. Users can submit withdrawal requests via the custodial UI until December 17, after which withdrawals must be completed directly by interacting with the contract.