StarkWare founder Eli Ben-Sasson announced Monday that the Ethereum layer-2 builder is cutting staff as it pivots from pure infrastructure play to a revenue-first strategy.
In a post on X after an All Hands meeting, Ben-Sasson framed the move as necessary to “move fast” and become more sustainable: “Our new strategy requires that we move fast, and we’re too big and too inefficient for that,” he wrote, adding that the reorganization will be a “dramatic change” for employees who remain. He said StarkWare will narrow focus to “doing fewer things excellently” and pursue product-market fit through focused experimentation — “a bit like going back to startup mode,” he added.
What’s changing
- StarkWare is consolidating its team into two “purpose-focused units” that will own business development, engineering, product and go-to-market work. Ben-Sasson did not disclose the exact size of the cuts in his post. Decrypt has reached out to StarkWare for comment.
Background and tech
- Founded eight years ago and based in Israel, StarkWare is best known for Starknet, an Ethereum layer-2 that uses zero-knowledge proofs to scale transactions. The company has raised $287 million across eight funding rounds and has been pursuing broader infrastructure use cases, including tooling to extend Bitcoin’s role in decentralized finance — for example, last month “private Bitcoin” features debuted on Starknet with Zcash-like privacy functionality.
Business metrics and market pressure
- On-chain revenue data highlight the pressure to monetize: DefiLlama reported roughly $3,500 in revenue from Starknet over the past day, versus about $89,000 for Base, Coinbase’s layer-2, in the same period. Starknet’s native token traded around $0.03 on Monday, down about 75% over the past year, per CoinGecko.
Industry context
- StarkWare’s cost-cutting follows a broader wave of restructuring across layer-2 and crypto firms as teams prioritize profitability and speed of decision-making. Last month Optimism disclosed 20 layoffs as it trimmed overhead; Polygon Labs pivoted toward real-world payments after buying two firms for about $250 million and then cut roughly 30% of its staff (about 60 people), according to CoinDesk. Crypto.com recently cut about 12% of its workforce (~180 people), while Block Inc. eliminated around 4,000 jobs earlier this year.
Why it matters
- StarkWare’s reorientation signals a shift in priorities for a prominent ZK infrastructure provider: after years investing in deep technical infrastructure, the firm is doubling down on commercialization and efficiency. That could accelerate product-focused initiatives and partnerships — but it will also test whether StarkWare can scale revenue fast enough to justify a leaner organization.
Ben-Sasson acknowledged the difficulty ahead: “It’s a huge challenge, that requires a large and painful change, and will require immense effort.”
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