MegaETH Parent Cuts 20% of Staff Amid AI Shift

MEGA, the organization supporting the Ethereum layer-2 network MegaETH, has decreased its staff count by 20 percent as part of an ongoing restructuring process that aligns with a new strategic focus on artificial intelligence products. The workforce reduction affects personnel who contributed to the development of the project from its initial stages, including those involved in blockchain engineering, wallet creation, ecosystem support, and communications.

Co-founder Shuyao Kong confirmed the reorganization of teams on Friday, noting that the transition brings fresh capabilities while impacting members of the early workforce. Although Kong did not specify the exact headcount reduction or the precise timeline of the departures, she emphasized that the core engineering team, early employees, and founders remain fully dedicated to the organization. The staff cuts coincide with a broader redirection toward building services on the MegaETH network, highlighted by a dedicated financial commitment of $30 million toward artificial intelligence initiatives.

MegaETH Shift Toward Artificial Intelligence

The pivot toward artificial intelligence is detailed in a whitepaper authored by co-founders Yilong Li and Lei Yang. The proposed framework introduces an inference market designed to connect users with competing AI service providers, establishing transparency regarding model verification and data handling. MEGA aims to unveil a public inference market in December, setting the stage for subsequent major milestones including the scheduled mainnet launch on Feb. 9 after successful testing environments recorded high transaction throughput.

MEGA reduces its workforce by 20 percent while allocating funds toward artificial intelligence products.

Why it matters

The restructuring alters the operational structure of an important Ethereum layer-2 scaling project at a critical development phase. The workforce changes and the subsequent strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence services directly impact contributors, developers, and ecosystem participants relying on the MegaETH network infrastructure.