Magic Eden, the top marketplace for Solana NFTs, announced the layoffs of 22 employees late Monday, citing a company-wide restructuring as the broader crypto-economy continues to struggle with a harsh winter.
Since the beginning of 2023, several prominent crypto companies, including Huobi, Coinbase, Blockchain.com, Crypto.com, and Luno, have also announced layoffs.
Launched in September 2021, Magic Eden has quickly become one of the most popular Solana blockchain trading platforms for NFTs, according to DappRadar. In September 2022, Magic Eden expanded into the Ethereum ecosystem, rolling out support for Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pudgy Penguins, and Otherside.
"We are deeply grateful to these individuals - each of them has contributed tremendously to Magic Eden over the past year," Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu wrote on Twitter. "We will honor them and their contributions with special care and respect. We were able to speak with each person 1:1 before releasing this news.”
In a letter posted on the thread, Lu said that as Magic Eden grew, the nature of its challenges changed, adding that when the company set its priorities for 2023, Magic Eden had to carefully review what structures and roles were needed.
"To be clear, achieving our strategic goals requires changes to our team," the letter said.
The letter says that to help those affected by the layoffs, Magic Eden will offer two months of severance pay, waive the 1-year vesting requirement for stock options, allow them to keep their laptops, and provide medical care for an additional six months.
While he said the layoff comes as a shock, Lu says he continues to look to the future.
"This week we will be focusing our energies on helping people transitioning from Magic Eden," Lu said. "Next week we will regroup, refocus and move forward."
Decrypt has reached out to Lou for comment, but has not yet heard back.