Summary

  • Polygon Labs executed a second round of 2026 layoffs, cutting 19% of staff to target profitability by 2027.
  • 1inch co-founder Anton Bukov exited operations in late November 2025 while retaining his title and 50% stake.
  • Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem shows Arbitrum and Optimism controlling 80% market share as L1 gas limit rises to support growth.

Polygon Labs just cut its staff again. The company laid off 60 people in its second round of 2026 reductions. That equals 19 percent of the workforce. CEO Marc Boiron said the target remains profitability in 2027. The firm also pushed ahead with the Coinme acquisition at the same time.

These cuts fit a wider pattern across crypto projects. Tighter markets forced similar moves elsewhere.

Context

Ethereum Layer 2 networks grew fast to pull transactions off the main chain. Polygon built tools that let decentralized apps scale while still settling on Ethereum.

Recent upgrades gave the network more room. Ethereum raised the Layer 1 gas limit to 60M. That increase lifts settlement capacity by about 33 percent. L2BEAT continues to track every project in the space.

Details

Polygon acted directly to lower costs. Marc Boiron laid out the plan in a company statement and stressed the push for new revenue from the Coinme deal.

"Polygon Labs announced the second round of layoffs for 2026, as the firm moved to finalize the Coinme acquisition."

, Polygon announcement (ambcrypto.com)

At 1inch, co-founder Anton Bukov left day-to-day work in late November 2025. He kept the co-founder title and his 50 percent stake. The move still leaves questions about who runs things next.

Arbitrum and Optimism now control 80 percent of Ethereum Layer 2 market share. L2BEAT data shows that concentration clearly. The rest of the ecosystem readies for bigger capacity in 2026.

Layoffs at these projects may slow new features. The 1inch shift keeps operational questions open even with Bukov's ownership intact.

Outlook

Polygon aims for full profitability by 2027 and plans to close the Coinme transaction. Ethereum L2 teams will watch the gas limit changes and any shifts tracked on L2BEAT while they keep trimming expenses.