Polygon Layoffs and 1inch Founder Exit Expose Crypto’s Costly Pivot to Revenue

Polygon Labs announced its second round of layoffs in 2026 on Thursday, the same day 1inch co-founder Anton Bukov revealed he was fired in November. Both firms are reorganizing around commercial priorities while their tokens trade near record lows.

The parallel shakeups show a hard truth taking hold across the industry. The people who built crypto’s infrastructure era are paying the price of its push for real revenue.

Polygon (POL) and 1INCH Price Performance. Source: TradingView

Polygon Layoffs Mark Fourth Round of Cuts in Three Years

CEO Marc Boiron said Polygon Labs is completing its transformation from a blockchain foundation into a blockchain-enabled payments company, targeting profitability in 2027. He stressed the cuts reflect strategy rather than performance, with severance and career support for affected staff.

We are in the final stages of completing the Coinme acquisition, which will involve integrating that team into Polygon Labs, a move that will grow our organization as part of a broader merger exercise to position Polygon Labs to be profitable in 2027. As part of that process,…

— Marc | Polygon Labs (💜,⚔️, ※) (@0xMarcB) July 16, 2026

Thursday’s move extends a steady drumbeat. Polygon cut roughly 100 roles in 2023, another 60 in 2024, and around 60 more this January after its $250 million-plus deal to acquire Coinme, a US payments firm licensed in 48 states, and wallet developer Sequence.

The business case is visible on-chain. Stablecoin supply on Polygon stands at $3.36 billion, the eighth-largest on any blockchain, per DefiLlama, while the company says volume hit a record $9.12 billion in June. Visa also added Polygon to its stablecoin settlement program earlier this year.

Total Stablecoin Market Cap on Polygon. Source: DefiLlama

“We chose to move now because momentum like this deserves a company built to run with it. Revenue is strong, stablecoin volume keeps setting records, our customer pipeline is stronger than any of us imagined, and our on-chain payments solution went live in record time,” Boiron explained.

Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal separately said a third of the team built 13 AI projects in a three-day sprint, signaling how leadership expects the remaining staff to work.

A third of the @0xPolygon team stopped working last week.we asked them to pause their work to go build something with AI instead and we put $15k on the table for them to make something that actually moved the needle and push the business forward.3 days later we had 13… pic.twitter.com/MXrYmceLMH

— Sandeep | CEO, Polygon Foundation (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) July 15, 2026

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1inch Co-Founder Says He Was Fired, Launches Second Tier

Hours earlier, Bukov disclosed that 1inch fired him in late November 2025 despite his 50% stake. The co-founder, who led the DEX aggregator’s protocol architecture and security since May 2019, said he retains no operational or security oversight.

Where Polygon frames its restructuring as a strategy, Bukov describes his exit as a leadership dispute. He said he pushed for changes in management and communication after user and teammate feedback, and was dismissed.

“The most important lesson that stayed with me: the long-term success of any project stands on two pillars of equal weight – technical excellence and leadership grounded in values that hold under pressure,” Bukov stated.

He is now building Second Tier, an infrastructure startup he says will pursue an open financial system without friction or middlemen.

Tokens Near Record Lows as Builders Bear the Cost

The market has yet to reward either shakeup. Polygon Ecosystem Token (POL) hit an all-time low of $0.068 on July 1 and traded at $0.0838 at press time, down nearly 64% in a year, per BeInCrypto markets data.

Polygon (POL) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

“I understand why Polygon Labs is making this transition. But as a long-term POL holder who has absorbed huge losses, this raises an important question. Polygon Labs is becoming a for-profit payments company, while POL is roughly 98% below its ATH. Holders have no equity in Polygon Labs and no claim on its future profits. How will the success of this company create measurable value for POL?” one user posed.

Meanwhile, 1inch (1INCH) trades at $0.0739, down 78% over the same period after its own all-time low on June 6.

1INCH Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

Both stories point the same direction. Crypto firms are trading protocol-era talent for commercial discipline, and the coming quarters will show whether token holders ever share in the payoff.