Polygon plans to expand its business. But first, it cuts staff

Marc Boiron, chief executive of Polygon Labs, the company behind the Polygon blockchain, said in a Thursday post on X that the firm had laid off "many" employees as it prepares to complete its acquisition of Coinme, a U.S. crypto payments company.

Boiron described the addition of Coinme's employees as a move that will "grow our organization" and help Polygon become profitable in 2027.

• Boiron didn't disclose how many Polygon employees lost their jobs, which teams were affected, how many Coinme employees will join or what the company's total headcount will be after the deal closes.
• That makes it impossible to know whether Polygon will actually employ more people or simply replace employees from its blockchain team with payments specialists.

The timing may appear counterintuitive because Boiron said Polygon's revenue is strong, its stablecoin volume continues to set records and its customer pipeline is larger than expected.

• Strong revenue doesn't necessarily mean the company is profitable, however, and the cuts could lower costs while removing positions that overlap with the incoming Coinme team.

Polygon agreed in January to acquire Coinme and Sequence, a crypto wallet infrastructure provider, for a combined price of more than $250 million.

• Coinme gives Polygon regulated access to bank, card and cash payments across 48 U.S. states, while Sequence supplies wallets and technology for moving crypto between blockchains.

• Polygon said the latest departing employees will receive severance and other support, but it didn't disclose the terms.