More DeFi casualties: Why Optimism is cutting staff as Wall Street ramps up crypto hiring spree

Optimism Labs, one of the most active organisations scaling the Ethereum blockchain, is downsizing operations, according to its CEO.

In an internal Slack message shared on social media on Thursday, Jing Wang said that the company was letting go of 20 employees.

“This is about doing fewer things well, making decisions faster, and reducing coordination overhead,” he said.

Parting employees will get between three and five months of base pay as severance, as well as six months of healthcare benefits.

OP Labs builds the layer 2 network called Optimism. The company launched the mainnet on December 21.

As one of the very first layer 2 networks to hit the market, it now hosts hundreds of decentralised financial applications, according to DefiLlama.

The layoffs come fast on the heels of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, leaving the so-called Optimism Collective in February.

A spokesperson for Optimism confirmed with DL News at that time that Coinbase will stop sharing revenue from its layer 2 network, Base.

That revenue has topped $16 million over the course of the partnership.

“This is a hit to near-term onchain revenues,” Wang said. “But as Crypto Twitter has been saying for ages, we needed to evolve our biz model.”

In Wednesday’s message, Wang added that OP Labs is well-capitalised and has sufficient runway to continue operations.

Crypto goes institutional

With dwindling token prices in 2026, OP Labs isn’t the only crypto firm to trim its headcount.

In January, Polygon Labs reportedly laid off roughly 60 employees, and Mantra, a layer 1 blockchain focused on real-world assets, announced significant staff reductions as part of a restructuring.

Meanwhile, as clearer regulations in the US come into focus, larger institutions and banking groups are entering a hiring spree for top crypto talent.

BlackRock, Citigroup, Visa, Fidelity, Mastercard, and JPMorganChase are all hiring for dozens of blockchain- and crypto-related roles, according to their respective careers pages.

The roles are myriad, ranging from fraud prevention to tokenising assets to leading cybersecurity.

Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin-based DeFi correspondent. Have a tip? Get in touch at liam@dlnews.com.