Polygon Labs cuts 19% of staff in effort toward ‘enhanced performance’

Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron announced the firm would be cutting 60 staff members “for the sake of enhanced performance.”

In a Feb. 1 blog post, Boiron said the “difficult, but necessary” staff cuts affected roughly 19% of team members at Polygon. According to the CEO, the layoffs were not due to any financial reasons but an attempt to create an “efficient surgical team, with significantly less bureaucracy.”

“This decision is not an easy one,” said Boiron. “Right-sizing for the sake of enhanced performance, rather than for financial reasons, may seem unconventional.”

At Polygon Labs, we are on a mission to fundamentally change the Internet so that everyone in the world is empowered to equitably access its value. Building the infrastructure to make that happen is no easy feat. It requires executing ambitiously and nimbly with an efficient,…

— Marc Boiron (@0xMarcB) February 1, 2024

In a Feb. 1 X post, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal said the cuts were “a necessary step to take Polygon Labs back to its ‘underdog’ roots.” Polygon cut 20% of its staff — about 100 people — in February 2023 as part of internal restructuring efforts.

Boiron did not reveal what staff members would be affected by the layoffs at the time of publication but said he would share the information as soon as possible based on what employees chose to opt in. Many responses to the decision on social media suggested agreement with a “tough but necessary” approach at Polygon.

Related: Polygon Labs proposes framework to classify DeFi as ‘critical infrastructure’

Polygon’s cuts came amid layoffs across many companies in various industries. Asset manager BlackRock — responsible for one of the first spot Bitcoin ( BTC ) exchange-traded funds in the United States — reportedly planned to cut 3% of its staff in January. Financial payments firm Block also reportedly fired 1,000 team members as part of its efforts to establish leaner operations.

Magazine: Slumdog billionaire: Incredible rags-to-riches tale of Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal