MEGA, the team creating the Ethereum scaling platform MegaETH, has reduced its workforce by 20% while getting ready to introduce an artificial intelligence marketplace in December.
Co-founder Shuyao Kong revealed the job reductions on Friday without revealing the exact number of employees impacted, noting that the downsizing touched personnel focused on the blockchain, wallet, and ecosystem sectors. The founders and main engineering personnel are staying on board.
“We realized that staying a chain-only company felt wrong and would have meant ignoring the biggest opportunity in front of us,” Kong wrote on social media earlier in the week.
The organizational changes arrive after the MegaETH Foundation rebranded to MEGA along with a $30 million pledge drawn from its treasury to develop network offerings, beginning with artificial intelligence tools.
At the same time, network engagement on MegaETH has slowed down. The total value locked across its decentralized finance platform currently sits at $8.8 million, falling heavily from a high exceeding $240 million, based on metrics from DeFiLlama. The layer-2 protocol, built initially to accelerate blockchain decentralized apps like gaming and trading platforms, experienced a token price decrease exceeding 70% over the year, according to CoinDesk data.
MEGA intends to debut a platform where users may buy access to artificial intelligence models from rival developers. Its white paper outlines methods for purchasers to confirm active models and secure processing power at set rates, though the company has not yet verified which capabilities will ship upon release.
MegaLabs, the initial creator behind the network, secured $20 million in 2024 during a financing event spearheaded by Dragonfly with support from Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin. Previously, MegaETH brought in $450 million through an excess-demand token offering.
Kong mentioned that MEGA’s upcoming solutions will operate on MegaETH, while the network targets finishing scheduled decentralization milestones prior to the end of March 2027.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/11/14/ethereum-scaling-project-megaeth-slashes-staff-by-20-as-it-pursues-ai-business.
