Consensys layoffs: Ethereum giant cuts 20% of workforce
Consensys, maker of the popular MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet, is cutting more than 160 employees across all divisions of the company. Founder and CEO Joe Lubin announced the news in a blog post attributing the layoffs to macroeconomic headwinds as well as legal costs from the protracted battle. company with regulatory agencies.
“Many cases with the SEC, including ours, show that meaningful jobs and productive investments are lost due to the SEC’s abuse of power and Congress’s inability to fix the problem,” Lubin wrote. topic”. “Such attacks from the US government will cost many companies… many millions of dollars.”
Lubin’s comments echo a widely held view in the crypto industry that the Securities and Exchange Commission has acted in bad faith when it comes to providing a clear regulatory roadmap for digital asset companies number. The agency’s head, Gary Gensler, said the SEC’s current laws are clear and has filed lawsuits alleging securities law violations against the cryptocurrency industry’s leading companies, including Consensys .
Lubin launched Consensys in Brooklyn in 2014 as an incubator for all kinds of projects building on the nascent blockchain, today the second largest blockchain and the backbone of the cryptocurrency industry. Its flagship product is MetaMask, which provides a decentralized way to hold tokens in the Ethereum ecosystem and access many related services.
Consensys has since moved its headquarters to Texas, where it has been working on developing various infrastructure tools to support Ethereum. In recent years, this work has been hampered by ongoing regulatory uncertainty, leading Lubin to take the bold step of v. SEC in April as part of an effort to confirm that Ethereum is not a security – a position widely supported by many crypto lawyers. A federal court rejected preemption this summer, but a related case brought by the SEC remains ongoing.
Consensus has emerged win at least one However, the legal battle forced the agency to withdraw from the investigation of many companies and developers that rely on Ethereum in their operations.
Lubin said Luck that the layoffs, which he described as a “tough but prudent decision to streamline our operations,” would affect about 162 of the 828 employees working at Consensys. He added that the layoffs will extend to every unit, including business development and product operations.
The company said it is offering generous severance pay, including career support and expanded health care benefits.
Going forward, Lubin wrote that Consensys will seek to accelerate the transition from a conventional company to a decentralized “Network State” consistent with the ideals of blockchain.
