The Near Foundation, the organization behind the Near protocol, has announced that it will be laying off approximately 40% of its staff in a move to consolidate and focus its efforts.
The Near Foundation, the organization behind the Near protocol, has announced that it will be laying off approximately 40% of its staff in a move to consolidate and focus its efforts. This amounts to 35 employees being let go, primarily from the marketing, business development, and community teams.
The decision came after an internal review concluded that the foundation had room for improvement in terms of efficiency and focus. There was feedback that the organization was attempting to juggle too many initiatives simultaneously and not always executing them effectively.
By streamlining and narrowing the scope, the Near Foundation aims to increase its speed and impact going forward. Areas of focus include advancing chain abstraction, mainstream adoption of open web standards, and user-owned AI.
Notably, the engineering team working on Near Protocol development will not be impacted by the layoffs. Additionally, the financial position of the Near Foundation remains extremely strong, with over $285 million in cash reserves, 305 million NEAR tokens worth over $1 billion, and $70 million in investments and loans.
Departing staff members will receive transition assistance to help them find new opportunities, whether in the Near ecosystem, the broader web3 space, or other industries.
The announcement comes on the heels of significant growth and adoption metrics for Near Protocol in 2023.
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