Polygon Slashes 30% of Staff in Quiet Restructuring

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Polygon has carried out a large internal round of layoffs, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Industry insiders told BeInCrypto that roughly 30% of staff were dismissed this week, although the company has not made any public announcement.

Meanwhile, reports have begun circulating on social media, with several Polygon-linked employees and ecosystem figures posting about abrupt exits and team changes. Polygon Labs has not yet responded to requests for comment.

after a far too short of a run, i was let go from @0xPolygon today in a restructuring. sad!

but im ready to find my next home and give it everything.

– regan (@0xthegipper) January 15, 2026

A Mechanism of Restructuring

Polygon moves in silence like a workshop of numbers, a large internal cull, as if hedges were trimmed by a gleaming blade. Roughly 30% of staff were shown the door this week, while the company offers no public statement, as if truth itself were a rumor, and the rumor is suddenly the only thing left to hold onto. 😶

Meanwhile, the social hive buzzes with posts from Polygon-linked employees and ecosystem figures about abrupt exits and team changes. Polygon Labs, for its part, remains silent, perhaps preferring the cold breath of quiet to the heat of explanation. 🤐

.@Polygon is laying people off via email, extremely fucking cool guys

– David Z. Morris (@davidzmorris) January 15, 2026

This is not the first time the wire of the ledger has shed its flesh. Back in 2024, the network burned through nearly 20% of its workforce. The clockwork of layoffs, it would seem, is an old instrument in a new orchestra.

The timing points to a broader restructuring Polygon has signaled in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Polygon Labs spoke of realigning its workforce around a new payments-first strategy, after a major pivot away from pure scaling and DeFi narratives. A certain calm efficiency-if one can call it that-under the glare of quarterly metrics. 📈

That shift followed Polygon’s $250 million-plus spree of acquisitions, including Coinme, a US-regulated fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, and Sequence, a wallet and cross-chain payments infrastructure provider.

Together, those assets form the backbone of what Polygon now calls its Open Money Stack, a vertically integrated system for regulated stablecoin payments and on-chain money movement. A neat label for a mechanism that promises to move money as if it were nothing more than a line item on a ledger. 💳➡️🧾

At the same time, Polygon has continued to push network upgrades. Its Madhugiri upgrade recently increased throughput and prepared the chain for higher transaction volumes.

These changes have also played out in the market. Polygon’s native POL token rallied sharply in recent weeks.

Yet internally, the transition appears to have come at a cost.

.@Polygon is laying people off via email, extremely fucking cool guys

– David Z. Morris (@davidzmorris) January 15, 2026

For now, Polygon has not confirmed the reported layoffs. But with staff departures now visible across social platforms.

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2026-01-15 23:07