MEGA cuts 20% of staff and pivots toward AI inference products

MegaETH launched as a high-throughput Ethereum layer-2 network, pitched as a 'real-time blockchain' challenging rivals like Arbitrum and Optimism on speed. Its nonprofit arm, MegaETH Foundation, managed grants and ecosystem growth; it rebranded to MEGA days before this disclosure, signaling a shift from pure chain development toward broader product lines. The rebrand followed months of internal restructuring, setting the stage for the headcount reduction that followed.

Twenty percent of MEGA's staff, including engineers who built the layer-2 chain, its wallet and ecosystem tooling, have left the project, while the $30 million earmarked three days earlier flows into AI inference work. Developers who relied on MEGA's ecosystem grants face a leaner team to coordinate with, and users of the wallet and chain tooling may see slower maintenance. MEGA is targeting a December launch of an AI inference marketplace, redirecting resources from core blockchain support to this new product line.

Shuyao Kong's admission that the cuts hit blockchain, wallet and ecosystem teams specifically exposes a tension several layer-2 projects now face: chase AI demand or keep funding infrastructure that may not generate comparable revenue. A layer-2 team trimming the very staff who built its chain to pursue an AI marketplace raises a fair question about whether MEGA still treats blockchain infrastructure as its core business, or as a legacy cost center subsidizing an unrelated pivot.

MEGA's AI inference marketplace, slated to launch in December, will be the first concrete test of whether the $30 million commitment and the reduced headcount can produce a working product. If the marketplace ships on schedule and attracts users, the pivot gains credibility; a delay or quiet shelving would suggest the layoffs served cost-cutting rather than strategic redirection, leaving the original MegaETH chain further under-resourced.