OP Labs, the core development team behind the Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism, is laying off 20 employees. The firm’s CEO stated the move is to narrow focus and improve efficiency, not due to financial constraints. This restructuring follows recent strategic challenges for the layer-2 sector, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s critique of the scaling narrative and the upcoming migration of the major network Base away from Optimism’s technology stack.
OP Labs is reducing its workforce by 20 employees. The firm’s co-founder and CEO, Jing Wang, said the decision “reflects a narrowing focus” and was not financially motivated.
“This is not about finances. OP Labs is well capitalized with years of runway,” Wang stated. She explained the goal is to “do fewer things well, make decisions faster, and reduce coordinating overhead.”
The layoffs arrive during a period of reassessment for Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently argued that “the original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense.”
Buterin claimed that “L1 does not need L2s to be ‘branded shards,’ because L1 is itself scaling.” This marks a significant shift from previous advocacy for layer-2 networks.
Optimism is also facing a technical setback as the Coinbase-incubated network Base plans to migrate from the OP Stack. This move will end the sequencer revenue share that Base provided to Optimism.
The Optimism (OP) token traded around $0.11, down roughly 2.9% over 24 hours. It has fallen approximately 86% over the past year and remains 98% below its all-time high of $4.84 from early 2024.
The Optimism mainnet currently holds about $1.16 billion in bridged total value locked, ranking 12th among all networks according to data from DeFiLlama. The OP Stack technology powers over 50 layer-2 networks and secures $13 billion in assets.
