Polygon Labs trims workforce to support Coinme integration

Polygon Labs has cut another round of jobs as it completes the integration of crypto exchange Coinme, part of a restructuring that the company says is intended to support profitability by 2027.

According to Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron, the workforce reduction comes as the company enters the final stages of acquiring Coinme and prepares to merge its operations into Polygon Labs, a move he said will expand the organization while changing its focus from a blockchain foundation to a blockchain-enabled payments company.

In a post on X, Boiron said the layoffs were a difficult but necessary part of the transition. He added that integrating the Coinme team would increase the company’s headcount overall even as existing roles were eliminated during the restructuring.

The latest changes extend a strategy Polygon Labs has been pursuing for months. In January, the company spent about $250 million to acquire crypto exchange Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence, describing both businesses as core building blocks of its Polygon Open Money Stack.

The platform is designed as a vertically integrated payments infrastructure that allows blockchain-based payments to operate with fewer intermediaries while making transfers as seamless as traditional payment systems.

Restructuring continues as payments become the priority

Although Polygon has traditionally focused on blockchain infrastructure, its priorities have changed over the past year. In mid-2025, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal became CEO of the Polygon Foundation and announced plans to retire the Polygon zkEVM chain, which had been built using technology acquired through Hermez Network and Mir Protocol.

Thursday’s layoffs also continue a series of workforce reductions across the company. Polygon previously eliminated about 100 roles, or roughly 20% of its workforce, in February 2023, followed by another 60 positions during a 19% reduction in 2024. Earlier this year, the company cut another 60 employees, a move widely linked to preparations for integrating the Coinme and Sequence acquisitions.

A Polygon Labs spokesperson declined to disclose how many employees were affected in the latest round. The spokesperson said affected workers will receive severance packages and transition support, while some employees have been asked to remain temporarily to help complete the organizational changes.

In an internal message shared with employees, Boiron said the company decided to act now rather than keep an organizational structure that could affect execution. He acknowledged that two rounds of workforce changes in a single year were difficult for employees but said the restructuring would provide a stronger financial foundation for long-term growth and support the company’s goal of becoming profitable in 2027.

Payments strategy expands despite industry-wide job cuts

Polygon said the restructuring is separate from the Polygon Foundation, which continues to oversee the network, treasury, ecosystem development and protocol upgrades. According to a company spokesperson, Polygon’s stablecoin supply has reached $3.37 billion, making it the eighth-largest stablecoin ecosystem across blockchains, while on-chain payment volume climbed to a record $9.12 billion in June.

The latest cuts come as several crypto firms continue reshaping their businesses through restructuring. In June, Robinhood announced plans to eliminate about 290 jobs, or roughly 10% of its workforce, saying the move would simplify management and improve efficiency even as Chief Executive Officer Vlad Tenev described the business as financially strong.

Workforce reductions have also remained common across non-engineering roles in the digital asset industry. Earlier this year, the Plexus State of Crypto Hiring report found that women accounted for less than 8% of crypto hires despite a sharp increase in female Web3 placements, noting that marketing, communications, community and events positions remain more exposed to layoffs than technical roles. The report said those functions have frequently been targeted as companies reduce costs and reorganize around new business priorities.