Polygon Axes 30% of Workforce Following $250M Payments Strategy Pivot

Polygon slashes staff after a major strategic bet fails to deliver—a classic case of crypto ambition meeting corporate reality.

The Human Cost of High-Stakes Gambles

The blockchain scaling giant reportedly cut nearly a third of its team. The move follows a massive, quarter-billion-dollar investment into a new payments initiative that didn't pan out as planned. Internal memos point to a 'strategic realignment,' but industry watchers see it as a necessary, if brutal, correction.

Betting Big and Missing Bigger

That $250 million wasn't just parked in a treasury—it was deployed aggressively to capture market share in the burgeoning crypto payments space. The goal was to become the default rails for digital asset transactions. Instead, the initiative struggled to gain traction against established competitors and shifting market dynamics. The result? A bloated cost structure with diminishing returns.

Efficiency Over Expansion

This isn't a collapse; it's a recalibration. The focus now shifts from aggressive growth to core protocol development and sustainable scaling. Expect remaining resources to funnel back into the core MATIC ecosystem and zero-knowledge proof technology. The message is clear: build what works, not what sounds good on a funding deck.

The Aftermath and the Road Ahead

Market reaction has been muted—almost as if investors expected a bloated web3 project to eventually trim the fat. The cuts, while severe, may shore up the balance sheet and extend the project's runway. It's a painful lesson in capital allocation, one that every crypto founder nodding along right now will probably ignore by next bull run. Sometimes the most bullish move is to stop throwing good money after bad and just build something people actually use.

Polygon Aligns Teams Around Payments Vision After Coinme, Sequence Buyouts

The reported layoffs follow Polygon’s announcement that it had agreed to acquire U.S. crypto payments firm Coinme and wallet and developer platform Sequence.

Polygon Labs to acquire payments firm Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence for $250M accelerating its expansion into licensed stablecoin payments.#Polygon #Stablecoinshttps://t.co/IrTLboe8EZ

The two deals, together valued at more than $250 million, are intended to form the backbone of what Polygon calls its “Open Money Stack,” a vertically integrated system designed to move money onchain using stablecoins.

The strategy marks a clear narrowing of Polygon Labs’ focus, shifting away from broad ecosystem expansion toward regulated payments infrastructure, wallets, and settlement rails.

Polygon CEO Marc Boiron framed the restructuring as part of a deliberate effort to sharpen the company’s mission.

In a post on X, Boiron said Polygon had spent recent months aligning around a single goal of moving all money onchain, and that the acquisitions brought in teams with deep expertise.

Over the past few months, we’ve sharpened Polygon Labs’ focus around one mission: moving all money onchain.

As part of that journey, we are acquiring Coinme and Sequence. These teams bring deep expertise across regulated payments, wallets, and interop. As we begin integrating…

As those teams were folded into Polygon, overlapping roles were consolidated, leading to difficult staffing decisions.

Boiron stressed that the changes were structural rather than performance-based and said total headcount WOULD remain similar after the integration, though with a heavier emphasis on payments and wallet expertise.

Coinme brings a nationwide compliance footprint that is difficult for crypto companies to build organically.

The company operates in 48 U.S. states and runs more than 50,000 retail crypto ATMs and kiosks, giving Polygon access to licensed fiat on- and off-ramps at scale.

Sequence, meanwhile, provides embedded wallets and cross-chain tooling that abstracts away complexity like gas management, bridging, and token swaps.

Departing Polygon Employees Voice Mixed Emotions After Job Cuts

Although Polygon did not disclose how many employees were let go, former staff members began confirming exits shortly after the news broke.

Several described the layoffs as painful but expressed Optimism about Polygon’s direction.

One former senior ecosystem figure said they were proud of what the team had built and remained confident about the future of the protocol.

My friends, I’m also part of the layoffs, but can honestly say I’m wildly a) proud and b) optimistic about what’s next for Polygon, for those affected, and for me. There has never been a better time to be a builder, and that is even more true today.

If any folks need a reconnect… https://t.co/hqIQKNf3KK

Others publicly began searching for new roles across operations, business development, and ecosystem management, showing the breadth of functions affected by the restructuring.

The cuts are not Polygon’s first attempt to streamline operations.

Over the past two years, the company has gone through multiple restructurings, including a roughly 19% workforce reduction and the spin-off of Polygon Ventures and Polygon ID in early 2024.

@0xPolygonLabs has cut off 19% of its workforce.#CryptoNewshttps://t.co/yGAsARyR9x

Executives at the time said those moves were designed to reduce complexity and focus resources.

Polygon maintains that its financial position remains solid, as since the beginning of January 2026, Polygon’s protocol fee revenue has exceeded $1.7 million, suggesting the layoffs were driven by strategic reprioritization rather than a lack of capital.

Polygon’s MOVE comes amid a broader wave of restructuring across the crypto industry as companies reassess costs and focus areas after years of rapid expansion.

This week, MANTRA announced job cuts and a shift to a leaner operating model following a steep collapse in its OM token and prolonged market pressure.

In July 2025, Consensys, the ethereum software firm behind MetaMask, reportedly laid off about 7% of its workforce as part of a realignment following an acquisition.