Polygon Labs cuts jobs as it finalizes Coinme deal and pivots toward payments
Polygon Labs has carried out another round of layoffs as it moves to integrate crypto exchange Coinme and reposition the business away from pure infrastructure toward a blockchain-enabled payments company — part of a larger restructuring aimed at reaching profitability by 2027.
CEO Marc Boiron said on X that the workforce reductions were “difficult but necessary” as Polygon enters the final stages of acquiring Coinme and folding its team into Polygon Labs. He added that the integration will ultimately increase headcount overall even as the company eliminates some existing roles during the merger and reorganization.
Why Polygon is changing course
Earlier this year Polygon spent roughly $250 million to acquire Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence, calling both companies core components of its “Polygon Open Money Stack.” The strategy is to build a vertically integrated payments infrastructure that reduces intermediaries and makes blockchain-based transfers operate as seamlessly as traditional payments rails.
Polygon has traditionally focused on blockchain infrastructure. But over the past year the company has shifted priorities: in mid-2025 co‑founder Sandeep Nailwal moved to lead the Polygon Foundation and announced plans to retire the Polygon zkEVM chain, which was built using technology from Hermez Network and Mir Protocol. Boiron says the Coinme integration is intended to accelerate Polygon’s transition into payments while positioning the business to be profitable by 2027.
Layoff history and support for affected staff
Thursday’s cuts continue a string of workforce reductions at Polygon. In February 2023 the company cut roughly 100 roles (about 20% of its staff), followed by another reduction of about 60 positions in 2024 (roughly 19%). Earlier in 2026 Polygon trimmed an additional ~60 employees — a move widely linked to preparations for integrating Coinme and Sequence. Polygon did not disclose how many people were affected in the latest round; a spokesperson said impacted workers will receive severance and transition support, and that some employees have been asked to stay on temporarily to help complete the organizational changes.
Boiron told employees the company was acting now to avoid maintaining an organizational structure that could impede execution, acknowledging two rounds of changes in a single year are hard on staff but arguing the restructuring will create a stronger financial foundation for long-term growth.
Network metrics and organizational separation
Polygon emphasized that the restructuring is separate from the Polygon Foundation, which continues to manage the network, treasury, ecosystem development and protocol upgrades. The company noted that Polygon’s stablecoin supply stands at $3.37 billion — the eighth-largest stablecoin footprint across blockchains — and that on-chain payment volume hit a record $9.12 billion in June.
Industry context
Polygon’s cuts come amid broader cost-cutting and refocusing across crypto firms. In June, Robinhood announced plans to cut roughly 290 jobs (about 10% of its workforce) to simplify management and improve efficiency. Labor trends in crypto also show non-engineering roles — marketing, communications, community and events — remain particularly vulnerable to layoffs as companies reorganize; a Plexus report found women accounted for less than 8% of crypto hires earlier this year even as female Web3 placements ticked up.
What to watch
The market will be watching how smoothly Coinme’s operations and customer flows integrate into Polygon’s stack, whether the acquisitions accelerate payment use cases on Polygon’s network, and if the restructuring materially improves the company’s path to profitability by 2027.
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