Polygon Reportedly Cuts 30% of Its Workforce After $250 Million Payments Strategy

Summary:
Polygon Labs has reportedly reduced its staff by approximately 30% as the company shifts focus towards a payments-first strategy following $250 million acquisitions. Although the layoffs' extent hasn’t been officially confirmed, sources indicate they are related to integrating newly acquired teams rather than signaling financial trouble.

Key Takeaways

Polygon Labs has laid off around 30% of its staff as part of strategic restructuring.
The company is focusing on a payments-first strategy following the acquisitions of Coinme and Sequence.
These layoffs are related to integrating new teams, not financial distress.
Former employees express mixed feelings, with some remaining optimistic about Polygon’s future direction.
The crypto industry as a whole is experiencing restructuring and job cuts as firms realign after rapid expansion.

Polygon Aligns Teams Around Payments Vision After Coinme, Sequence Buyouts

The recent layoffs at Polygon come on the heels of its announcement to acquire Coinme, a U.S. crypto payments firm, and Sequence, a wallet and developer platform. These two acquisitions, totaling over $250 million, aim to establish what Polygon refers to as its “Open Money Stack." This initiative seeks to create a vertically integrated system for handling onchain financial transactions utilizing stablecoins.

This shift in strategy illustrates Polygon Labs’ narrowed focus—moving away from broad ecosystem expansion toward a more regulated payment infrastructure, wallets, and settlement rails. CEO Marc Boiron described the restructuring as part of a strategic effort to refine the company's mission.

In a post on platform X, Boiron explained that recent months have been spent aligning toward a singular objective: moving all money onchain. The integrations of Coinme and Sequence aim to bring in teams with significant expertise in this area. As these teams were incorporated into Polygon, overlapping job roles were consolidated, leading to some tough staffing decisions.

Boiron clarified that these changes stem from structural adjustments rather than performance issues and maintained that the overall employee count would stay roughly the same post-integration, but with a stronger emphasis on payments and wallet knowledge.

The acquisition of Coinme provides Polygon with a significant compliance framework, which is challenging for crypto firms to establish independently. Coinme operates across 48 U.S. states, managing over 50,000 retail crypto ATMs and kiosks, thus offering Polygon scalable access to licensed fiat on- and off-ramps.

Sequence enhances this vision by offering embedded wallets and cross-chain tools that simplify complex processes such as gas management, bridging, and token swaps.

Departing Polygon Employees Voice Mixed Emotions Following Job Cuts

Though Polygon has not revealed the exact number of employees affected, several former staff confirmed their exits soon after the announcement. Many described their experience as painful but expressed hope for Polygon's future trajectory.

One former senior ecosystem member stated their pride in the team's accomplishments while remaining optimistic about the protocol's outlook. Others have started seeking new positions in operations, business development, and ecosystem management, indicating a wide array of roles impacted by the restructuring.

This is not Polygon's first attempt to streamline its operations. Over the last two years, the company has undergone several restructuring initiatives, including a 19% workforce reduction along with the spin-off of Polygon Ventures and Polygon ID at the beginning of 2024. Executives at that time noted these steps were intended to lessen complexity and better direct resources.

Polygon reassures its stakeholders that it retains a strong financial position. Since January 2026, the revenue from Polygon’s protocol fees has surpassed $1.7 million, which points to the layoffs being a strategic realignment rather than a reflection of financial instability.

Polygon’s latest moves occur against a larger backdrop of restructuring within the crypto industry, as many companies reassess their expenditures and strategic focuses after a period of rapid growth. Recently, Mantra announced job cuts and a transition to a more efficient operating model, while in July 2025, Consensys, the Ethereum software company behind MetaMask, reportedly laid off about 7% of its workforce amid its own realignment following an acquisition.