The company OP Labs, which develops blockchain infrastructure for Optimism, announced the layoff of 20 employees.
Co-founder of Optimism and CEO OP Labs Jing Wang published a screenshot of the message she sent to the team after the layoffs. According to it, there were 102 members in the team chat, so the reduction affected about 19.6% of employees.
“This decision is not related to finances. OP Labs has enough funds and resources for several years ahead,” Wang wrote.
She added that the company wants to focus on fewer tasks, work faster, and reduce unnecessary coordination within the team.
She did not specify which positions were affected by the layoffs. At the same time, Wang called on recruiters on social media to pay attention to the laid-off employees. According to her, these are “talented engineers, operators, and developers who helped make Optimism what it is today.”
The editorial team at The Block also reached out to Wang for additional comments.
Transition Period
Optimism remains one of the key layer-two solutions for scaling the Ethereum network. Its OP Stack serves as an open foundation for creating customizable blockchains, and Superchain acts as a shared infrastructure for uniting such L2 networks.
Several major projects have launched on the OP Stack, including the Base blockchain, which is developed by Coinbase. The OP Labs team is responsible for research, development, and technical advancement of the protocol.
The layoffs occurred during a transitional stage for Optimism. Last month, the Base team announced it would move to its own technology stack to develop the network more independently.
Base was the largest blockchain built on the OP Stack, holding billions of dollars in total value locked. After the news of the transition, the OP token price dropped sharply, and doubts about the long-term prospects of Optimism appeared in the market.
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Despite this, the project still has a development plan through 2026.
Last month, Jing Wang said that Optimism plans to implement several key upgrades. These include faster blocks, native interoperability between networks, flexible mechanisms to meet various regulatory requirements, and the introduction of zero-knowledge proof systems that will align with Ethereum’s future roadmap.
Earlier in January, OP token holders voted for a proposal that could direct millions of dollars in protocol revenue to buy back tokens. The initiative aims to better link the OP economy with the Superchain ecosystem.
According to the proposal, 50% of Superchain sequencer revenue will be allocated to monthly OP token buybacks. The pilot program is set for 12 months and started last month.
According to The Block price page, the OP token has risen by 0.17% in the past 24 hours and is trading around $0.12. The market capitalization is about $251.7 million. However, over the past 30 days the token price has dropped by 37%.
