BroadChain has learned that on March 12, OP Labs—the core development team behind Optimism—announced a workforce reduction of 20 employees, constituting roughly 19.6% of its total staff.
In an internal memo, Optimism Co-Founder and OP Labs CEO Jing Wang clarified that this decision was not financially motivated. The company remains well-funded with a multi-year cash runway. The layoffs are intended to "streamline operations, accelerate decision-making, and reduce collaboration costs."
Optimism is navigating a period of transition. Last month, Base, the largest chain built on the OP Stack, announced plans to develop its own independent tech stack. This move sparked market concerns about Optimism's long-term viability, contributing to a roughly 37% decline in the price of the OP token over the past 30 days.
Despite these headwinds, OP Labs has outlined its roadmap through 2026. Key initiatives include achieving faster block times, enabling native interoperability, introducing customizable compliance controls, and developing a zero-knowledge proof (ZK Proof) system in alignment with Ethereum's future upgrades.
In a separate development, OP token holders have previously voted to approve a proposal directing 50% of Superchain sequencer revenue toward a token buyback program.