‘Dramatic Change’: Starknet Creator Reveals Layoffs Amid Revenue-Focused Pivot

StarkWare co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson indicated on Monday that the firm, which builds on Ethereum, has become the latest to slash its headcount in a move to prioritize revenue.

Although the company, founded eight years ago, has built what Ben-Sasson described as “the best infrastructure in the world,” StarkWare now finds itself in a position where honing efficiency to generate cash represents the most sustainable path forward, he said in a post to X.

“Our new strategy requires that we move fast, and we’re too big and too inefficient for that,” he explained. “For those staying, we recognize this is a dramatic change.”

StarkWare is known for developing an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network that leverages zero-knowledge proofs, an advanced form of cryptography that has played an essential role in the Israel-based firm’s ability to raise $287 million across a total of eight funding rounds.

In his post, Ben-Sasson said the company’s team is being consolidated into two “purpose-focused units,” which will be responsible for overseeing initiatives tied to business development, engineering, product, and go-to-market strategies.

Last month, the team behind Starknet competitor Optimism disclosed that 20 employees had been let go as the firm seeks to make quicker decisions and reduce overhead. Ben-Sasson didn’t describe the breadth of cuts that StarkWare was making in his X post on Monday.

Decrypt has reached out to StarkWare for comment.

In recent years, StarkWare has positioned itself as an infrastructure specialist developing solutions that are intended to extend Bitcoin’s use within decentralized finance. In February, for example, “private Bitcoin” debuted on Starknet with Zcash-like features.

Over the past day, Starknet has generated around $3,500 in revenue, according to data provider DefiLlama. Over the same period of time, Starknet competitor Base, which was launched by crypto exchange Coinbase, has generated roughly $89,000 in chain revenue.

Polygon Labs, another layer-2 developer, said in January that it would prioritize real-world payments after purchasing two crypto firms for a combined total of $250 million. The firm subsequently cut 30% of its headcount, or 60 employees, per CoinDesk.

Starknet’s native token changed hands around $0.03 on Monday, a 75% decline over the past year, according to CoinGecko.

Ben-Sasson said that a pure focus on developing infrastructure has held the company back in some ways. Under its new mindset, he said the company will focus on “doing fewer things excellently” and finding product-market fit through experimentation.

“It’s a bit like going back to startup mode,” he added. “It’s a huge challenge, that requires a large and painful change, and will require immense effort.”

Last month, Crypto.com said that the exchange was slashing 12% of its workforce, affecting around 180 employees. Still, that was far less than the 4,000 workers let go by Jack Dorsey’s Block Inc. in February, among the sharpest reductions in tech so far this year.