Polygon Labs, which runs the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, has laid off 60 staff members after acquiring Coinme and Sequence for more than $250 million, people familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.
The job cuts come as the company pivots to blockchain with a focus on payments, the people said, noting that the changes affected teams across the organization rather than specific departments.
Rumors of new layoffs began circulating this week, following multiple reports about a 30% reduction in the workforce. A spokesperson for Polygon Labs disputed the reported percentages, saying the company still has nearly 200 employees after integrating the new acquisition and is not cutting jobs. A spokeswoman said the job cuts were part of a restructuring following a recent acquisition, but declined to comment on how many people would be affected.
“Prior to merging Coinme and Sequence employees into Polygon Labs, we made adjustments to keep overall headcount constant,” the spokesperson said. “These changes are not intended to reduce the size of the company, but to balance the additions from recent acquisitions.”
This is Polygon Labs’ third major layoff in recent years. The company cut approximately 100 employees, or 20% of its workforce at the time, in early 2023 as it consolidates multiple business units under a single entity. Then, in February 2024, the company cut a further 60 people, or 19% of its workforce, which the company said was to improve operational efficiency and performance.
CEO Marc Boisron also confirmed the job cuts in a statement on social media platforms, saying the restructuring was related to the overlap in roles created by the company’s recent acquisitions of CoinMe and Sequence. He said the two teams will be combined to support Polygon’s mission to “move all funds on-chain.”
“My outgoing teammates are extraordinary and I am deeply grateful for all they have contributed to Polygon. We are committed to actively supporting them through this transition,” Boylan wrote to X.
A company spokesperson said the company remains well-funded, with more than $200 million in treasury and more than 1.9 billion MATIC tokens.
Polygon is a scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain that aims to enable faster and cheaper transactions. The network uses a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, and its native currency, MATIC, is used to pay transaction fees and can be staked to earn rewards. Polygon was first launched as Matic Network by several Ethereum developers in 2017, and the network went live in 2020.
According to CoinDesk data, the MATIC token has fallen by around 6% in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the CoinDesk20 index, a measure of the broader crypto market, was down about 1% over the same period at the time of writing.
