Polygon Reportedly Cuts Nearly 30% of Staff in a Mass Layoff

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

Major Strategic Shift for Polygon？

This is not the first time the layer-2 network executed a mass layoff. Back in 2024, the company fired nearly 20% of its workforce.

The timing fits a broader restructuring that Polygon already signaled in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Polygon Labs said it was realigning its workforce around a new payments-first strategy, after a major pivot away from pure scaling and DeFi narratives.

That shift followed Polygons $250 million-plus acquisition spree, which included 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.

POL Price Chart Over the Past Month. Source: CoinGecko

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

These changes have also played out in the market. Polygons 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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