ConsenSys Confirms Layoffs, Projecting 13% of Staff at Startups to Be Cut

In a statement shared Thursday, ConsenSys announced that it is letting go 13 percent of its staff.

Dec 6, 2018 at 6:33 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 8:39 a.m. UTC

ConsenSys, the ethereum production studio, is letting go of 13 percent of its staff, according to a company announcement published Thursday and confirmed to CoinDesk by company officials.

The move comes on the heels of an announced “re-focusing of priorities” at the Joseph Lubin–funded venture studio. Company officials confirmed to CoinDesk that some staff members were laid off today.

As the company said Thursday:

"Excited as we are about ConsenSys 2.0, our first step in this direction has been a difficult one: we are streamlining several parts of the business including ConsenSys Solutions, spokes, and hub services, leading to a 13% reduction of mesh members."

In an interview with CoinDesk earlier this week, Lubin indicated that some projects could see their staff counts shrink amid a wider pivot toward what he called "ConsenSys 2.0." The developments were first detailed in an email sent to the company's 1,200 staffers late last week.

"Projects will continue to be evaluated with rigor, as the cornerstone of ConsenSys 2.0 is technical excellence, coupled with innovative blockchain business models," ConsenSys said in its Thursday statement.

In its four years of existence the decentralized company has grown rapidly, with a major hub in Brooklyn and outposts spanning the globe. More than 50 ventures currently exist under the ConsenSys umbrella, according to company officials. A profile published this week in Forbes estimated the company’s annual burn rate at over $100 million.

Image via CoinDesk archives

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