dYdX, Consensys layoffs shake up the space

Consensys CEO Joe Lubin was quick to point the blame at the SEC

share


This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Both dYdX and Consensys announced hefty layoffs yesterday.

dYdX CEO Antonio Juliano said that 35% of the core team was let go, while Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin said his firm had cut 20% of staff.

For Consensys, that’s 162 positions. According to dYdX’s site, the company had around 50 employees and is still hiring new positions. 

The two have very different stories about how they got to this point. Lubin was quick to cast some of the blame on the SEC. Consensys, a powerhouse in the Ethereum space, has notably been locked in multiple legal battles with the regulator and — if we’re going off the timelines we’re seeing for Ripple, Coinbase and Binance — then this might be a multi-year court case. 

“Such attacks from the US government will end up costing many companies that have been investigated, sued, or sent Wells Notices, many millions of dollars,” Consensys said in a blog post

Loading Tweet..

But the blame isn’t all on the SEC, and that’s where the similarities between the dYdX layoffs and what happened with Consensys come into play. 

“Looking ahead, I see a next generation economy not dominated by large monolithic companies; instead, smaller, agile, AI-supercharged companies with web3-based coordination tools will operate more efficiently. To stay competitive in this fast-growing space, we need to reshape ourselves and be more agile, more effective, and even higher-performing,” Lubin said.

For Juliano, the decision was made after he rejoined the perps DEX firm earlier this month — he previously stepped down months ago after seven years at the helm — and realized that “the company we’ve built is different from the company dYdX must be.”

This wasn’t, Juliano clarified on X, a financial decision for the company. He also teased an “explanation” sometime today. 

Loading Tweet..

Lubin said the decision at Consensys focuses the organization on the “core revenue drivers,” while Juliano told Empire just last week that he planned to go full “founder mode.”

Consensys and dYdX aren’t the first crypto companies to cut jobs this cycle — Helium Mobile’s parent company cut 40% of its staff, while Matter Labs cut 16% — it shows that some firms are starting to get lean as we head into what many think will be a bull run at the beginning of next year.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

The march toward an interoperable and onchain-by-default internet depends on reliable messaging and value transfer across heterogeneous domains. Crosschain protocols now process >$1.3T in combined annual transfer volume and secure tens of millions of user interactions, yet no single design dominates.

article-image

The goal, per Santiago Santos, is to make crypto a relatable piece of tech for people who may not even understand it

article-image

Stripe stablecoin unit aims to operate under a federal charter enabling regulated stablecoin issuance and custody services

by Blockworks /
article-image

Will TradFi make crypto better or create more problems than it solves?

article-image

Subtle decisions by risk curators saved Aave from significant turmoil

article-image

The new Rootstock Institutional unit aims to connect professional investors to Bitcoin-native yield and liquidity strategies anchored in BTC’s security layer

by Blockworks /
article-image

DOJ files record civil forfeiture against more than 127,000 BTC linked to scam activity

by Blockworks /