According to the project’s founder, the remaining workforce will also face a 20% pay cut.
Octopus Network, a decentralised app chain network built on the NEAR Protocol, has announced that it will be “refactoring” to adapt to market conditions.
Octopus Network will lay off roughly 40% of its team, or 12 of its 30 members, as part of its refactoring process. The remaining employees will also face a 20% pay cut, and the team token incentive will be suspended indefinitely.
Despite having lived through previous crypto winters, Octopus Network founder Louis Liu claims that “this winter is very different from the others.” Liu believes the current “crypto winter” will last at least another year, if not much longer, and that “most Web3 startups will not survive.”
To survive the crypto winter, the founder also revealed that, in addition to layoffs and pay cuts, the network will need to change its strategy, which will involve condensing operations while focusing on building with NEAR and IBC as the cornerstones.
Many businesses have had to lay off employees and make difficult decisions in recent months to ensure their survival. In order to survive the bear market, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced a second round of layoffs in December. Prior to this, Bybit’s employee base had grown in two years from a few hundred to over 2,000.
In the same month, Swyftx, an Australian cryptocurrency exchange, laid off 35% of its employees in preparation for a “worst-case scenario.” Swyftx laid off a total of 90 employees. The company’s CEO, Alex Harper, stated that, despite not having any exposure to FTX, the company was “not immune” to the fallout from FTX’s demise.
If current market conditions continue to deteriorate, more rounds of layoffs may befall the crypto workforce.
