Polygon cuts about 30% of staff, advances $250M payments push as January fees top $1.7M

Layoffs follow Coinme, Sequence deals as Polymarket activity lifts Polygon network metrics

TL;DR

• Polygon Labs cut roughly 30% of its workforce as it integrated acquisitions valued at up to $250 million.
• January network fees exceeded $1.7 million, driven largely by Polymarket’s 15-minute markets.
• Daily transactions reached about 5.3 million, with around 1.4 million active users and more than 12.5 million POL burned.

We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!

Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.

Polygon Labs has reduced its workforce by about 30% as part of a broader internal restructuring tied to a payments-focused strategy and recent acquisitions. The layoffs were reported in January 2026 and were described by the company as structural rather than performance-based. While Polygon did not publish an exact figure, multiple reports put the reduction at roughly 30% of staff, with one estimate citing around 180 affected employees based on internal headcount references.

Chief executive Marc Boiron said the changes followed a narrowing of priorities after major acquisitions, writing that “Over the past few months, we’ve sharpened Polygon Labs’ focus around one mission: moving all money onchain.” He added that Coinme and Sequence bring “deep expertise across regulated payments, wallets, and interop,” according to public statements cited at the time of the layoffs.

The workforce reduction followed earlier organizational changes at the company, including a 19% staff cut announced in early 2024 and the spin-offs of Polygon Ventures and Polygon ID. Company communications around the January 2026 layoffs emphasized that the reductions were related to overlapping roles and post-acquisition consolidation, not financial distress or declining revenue.

Polygon’s restructuring coincided with the acquisition of Coinme, a U.S.-based crypto payments and ATM operator, and Sequence, a wallet and developer infrastructure provider. The combined value of the deals was reported at up to $250 million. Polygon positioned the acquisitions as core components of what it calls an “Open Money Stack,” aimed at supporting stablecoin payments, regulated fiat on- and off-ramps, and interoperable wallets.

Alongside the corporate changes, Polygon’s onchain activity increased sharply in January 2026. Network fee revenue surpassed $1.7 million for the month, marking the strongest monthly performance in about 14 months. Individual days recorded more than $100,000 in fees, according to network data summarized in industry reporting.

A significant portion of the January fee growth was attributed to Polymarket, which introduced fees on its 15-minute prediction markets running on Polygon. The high-frequency markets drove transaction volume and fee generation, contributing materially to the more than $1.7 million in cumulative fees recorded since the start of the year.

Daily transactions on Polygon climbed to approximately 5.3 million during the same period, while active user counts reached about 1.4 million, both described as the highest levels seen since mid-2025. The surge occurred as Polygon implemented recent throughput upgrades designed to handle heavier transaction loads without visible congestion.

Token economics data showed that more than 12.5 million POL tokens were burned during the period, with peak days seeing close to 1 million POL removed from circulation. The total value of burned tokens was estimated at more than $1.5 million based on prevailing crypto price levels at the time, contributing to ongoing supply reduction.

The increase in fee revenue and token burns occurred against a broader market backdrop in which traders continued to track the crypto price index, overall crypto price movements, and shifts in coin market cap across major networks. Polygon’s January metrics were reported alongside those market indicators as part of routine network performance coverage.

Employee reactions to the layoffs appeared publicly on social platforms, with several departing staff members describing the changes in neutral or positive terms. One former employee wrote that their time at Polygon was a “hell of a ride,” while others referred to the experience as a proud chapter, according to posts cited in contemporaneous reports.

Polygon has not announced additional layoffs beyond the roughly 30% reduction reported in January 2026. Company statements indicated that overall headcount could stabilize after integration of Coinme and Sequence is completed, as teams are reorganized around payments, stablecoins, and wallet infrastructure rather than broader research or experimental initiatives.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.