Polygon Labs Restructures Workforce Amid Shift to Payment-Focused Blockchain Strategy

Polygon Labs, the company behind the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, has laid off around 60 employees following its recent acquisitions of Coinme and Sequence, which together were valued at more than $250 million. According to a source familiar with the situation, the layoffs are part of a broader restructuring effort as Polygon pivots toward becoming a payment-focused blockchain platform.

The workforce changes impacted teams across the organization rather than targeting a specific department. While rumors circulated this week suggesting Polygon Labs had reduced its workforce by as much as 30%, a company spokesperson denied that figure. The spokesperson emphasized that Polygon Labs still employs close to 200 people after integrating staff from the two acquired companies and described the layoffs as a balancing measure rather than a downsizing.

“Ahead of integrating employees from Coinme and Sequence into Polygon Labs, we've made adjustments to keep our overall headcount consistent,” the spokesperson said. “These changes are intended to balance additions from recent acquisitions, not to reduce the size of the company.”

This marks the third significant round of layoffs for Polygon Labs in recent years. In early 2023, the company cut roughly 100 jobs, about 20% of its workforce at the time, as it consolidated multiple business units. Another reduction followed in February 2024, when approximately 60 employees, or 19% of staff, were laid off in a move aimed at improving operational efficiency and performance.

Polygon CEO Marc Boiron also addressed the restructuring in a post on social media platform X, noting that overlapping roles emerged after acquiring Coinme and Sequence. He said the teams are being integrated to advance Polygon’s vision of “moving all money onchain,” while expressing gratitude to departing employees and committing to support them through the transition.

Despite the layoffs, Polygon Labs stated it remains financially strong, holding more than $200 million in treasury reserves and over 1.9 billion MATIC tokens. Polygon, originally launched as Matic Network in 2017 and rebranded later, is a proof-of-stake Ethereum scaling solution designed to enable faster and cheaper transactions.

Following the news, the MATIC token fell about 6% over 24 hours, underperforming the broader crypto market, which declined roughly 1% over the same period.