Polygon Labs cuts jobs for Coinme integration, targets 2027 profit
Polygon Labs is executing a second round of layoffs this year to integrate its $250 million Coinme acquisition and pivot from a blockchain foundation to a profitable payments company by 2027.
Polygon Labs has announced a second round of layoffs for 2026 as it moves to finalize its acquisition of crypto exchange Coinme. Chief Executive Marc Boiron confirmed the staff reductions on Thursday, declining to specify the exact number of affected employees. The cuts come as the Ethereum scaling firm integrates Coinme and wallet infrastructure firm Sequence, both acquired in January for roughly $250 million combined.
The workforce reduction is part of a broader restructuring to transform Polygon Labs from a decentralized network foundation into a blockchain-enabled payments business. Boiron said the integration will grow the organization overall but requires streamlining existing operations to position the company for profitability in 2027. "We chose to act decisively because building our company the right way in a competitive environment takes time," Boiron wrote in an internal message.
Central to this pivot is the Polygon Open Money Stack, a vertically integrated infrastructure platform designed to handle global blockchain payments without requiring multiple intermediaries. This represents a sharp strategic departure for the company, which historically focused purely on scaling the Ethereum network.
Thursday's announcement marks the firm's fourth major reduction in recent years, following cuts of roughly 100 employees in early 2023, about 60 in 2024, and another 60 in January. "I would rather make the right call now than delay it and retain an organization structure that puts our ability to execute well at risk," Boiron wrote on X. The company is offering severance packages to departing staff, though some employees are being asked to remain temporarily to manage the transition.
Despite the internal upheaval, underlying network usage is accelerating. A company spokesperson noted that Polygon's stablecoin supply currently stands at $3.37 billion, making it the eighth-largest stablecoin ecosystem across all blockchains. Furthermore, network transaction volume hit a record $9.12 billion in June.
The operational pivot intentionally isolates Polygon Labs, the commercial entity, from the Polygon Foundation. The Foundation, which co-founder Sandeep Nailwal took over as CEO in mid-2025, continues to manage the network treasury, ecosystem grants, and protocol upgrades. Under that separate leadership, the Foundation previously announced plans to deprecate the Polygon zkEVM chain.
