Polygon Labs Downsizes Workforce by 20%, Impacting 100 Positions

Polygon Labs, the firm behind the layer-2 blockchain Polygon, has downsized its workforce by 20%, impacting various teams and around 100 positions, according to a statement from the firm on Tuesday. 

The company stated that the job cut is part of its business consolidation that took place earlier this year.

“Earlier this year, we consolidated multiple business units under Polygon Labs. As part of this process, we’re sharing the difficult news that we’ve reduced our team by 20% impacting multiple teams and about 100 positions. This was a painfully hard decision, but a necessary step in our journey,” the firm said.

Fired Employees to Receive Severance Package

Polygon noted that impacted employees would receive three months of severance pay “regardless of their level or tenure” at the firm.

The firm stated that its treasury remains healthy, with a balance of over $250 million and roughly 1.9 billion MATIC, adding that it has “crystallized” its “strategy for the next several years to help drive mass adoption of web3 by scaling Ethereum.”

The job cut announcement negatively impacted the price of Polygon’s native cryptocurrency token MATIC. Shortly after the announcement, the token fell sharply by nearly 6% and was trading at $1.40 at the time of writing.

Crypto Firms Reduce Workforce to Cope With Market Crisis

Meanwhile, the decision by Polygon comes at a time when several industry players are struggling to stay afloat post-FTX implosion. Polygon has now joined a growing list of crypto firms downsizing their workforce as a cost-cutting measure that could help them cope with the market crisis.

Earlier this year, leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase launched a second round of layoffs, downsizing its workforce by 20% to preserve liquidity following market conditions.

During the same period, UK-based crypto brokerage firm BlockchainCom announced it had fired 28% of staff, or approximately 110 people, to help reduce its “operational costs.” According to reports, more than 29,500 jobs have been slashed across the crypto sector as of February 14.