Blockchain software publisher Consensys laid off 20% of its employeesattributing it to challenging macroeconomic conditions and continued regulatory uncertainty.
The layoffs, announced in a blog post by CEO Joseph Lubin, affect approximately 162 of Consensys’ 828 employees, according to Cointelegraph.
In addition to rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, the lack of clear regulatory frameworks “has made navigating our evolving space unnecessarily complex for innovators, builders, investors and businesses,” Lubin wrote , highlighting the number of ongoing battles between crypto companies and the Securities and Exchange Commission, including his own.
“All of this is happening within a rapidly evolving web3 ecosystem. Our industry is on the cusp of going mainstream with Web3-native companies making great strides and more traditional companies moving to Web3,” he wrote. “Looking ahead, I see a next-generation economy that will not be dominated by large monolithic companies; instead, smaller, agile, AI-powered businesses with Web3-based coordination tools will operate more efficiently.
“To remain competitive in this rapidly growing industry, we must reshape ourselves and be more agile, more efficient and even more efficient,” he wrote.
Lubin said layoffs are necessary for the sustainability of the company best known for its self-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask.
Affected employees will receive severance pay based on seniority and job placement assistance, as well as extended health benefits and an extension of the stock option exercise window from 12 months to 36 months , “in recognition of the value provided by these team members.”
Consensys’ core business, Lubin said, remains strong, and the decision to “right-size” the company was “difficult,” he wrote.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Lubin said the layoffs are driven “by a variety of factors, and to me, I feel like they’re pretty equal.” The first obvious element, which is not necessarily more important than the others, simply concerns aspects of long-term financial viability in the face of potential economic volatility.”
Consensys is seeking to become a “smaller, much more agile organization,” better equipped to capitalize on “the broad and deep capabilities” the company has built over its 10-year history, he told the media.
Specifically, the company seeks to evolve “from an enterprise to a network state over time,” he wrote in the blog post, moving “gradually toward rigorous decentralization.”
Without details, Lubin wrote that the company would make several announcements in the near future to demonstrate its commitment to decentralization.