Eigen Labs lays off 25% of employees, turns focus to EigenCloud

“These changes enable us to sustainably pursue our long-term objectives with renewed focus and energy,” Eigen Labs CEO Sreeram Kannan said in a note seen by Blockworks

article-image

GingerHamster/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks

share

Eigen Labs has laid off 29 employees as it reorients its EigenCloud product, Blockworks has learned.  

The product, which was unveiled last month, is a developer platform focused on off- and onchain verification. As part of the announcement at the time, a16z unveiled a $70 million investment. In total, the firm has raised $220 million — including $50 million in a Series A in 2023. 

The decision to reduce the headcount — which impacts 25% of employees — was not motivated by financials, and the project still has financial runway, an Eigen Labs spokesperson confirmed to Blockworks. 

The goal, as outlined by a note seen by Blockworks from Eigen Labs CEO Sreeram Kannan, is to reorganize “resources around the product and key user scenarios and streamlining our teams and leadership to give us years of runway to concentrate on building and growing EigenCloud.”

Employees from various roles and departments were impacted as part of the decision. No further reductions are planned at this time. 

Read more: A16z injects $100M into EigenLayer

“Restructuring our organization and saying goodbye to a number of our teammates, who have given so much to the project, is incredibly painful. This morning, I spoke with impacted team members, shared my immense gratitude for their contributions, and laid out how Eigen Labs is committed to supporting their next chapter with empathy, respect, and concrete resources,” Kannan’s message said.

“These changes enable us to sustainably pursue our long-term objectives with renewed focus and energy. While today’s reorganization is painful, I’m extremely optimistic about our future. Demand for verifiable compute is growing as developers build software for the AI era, and EigenCloud is uniquely positioned to service this market need with a cloud platform backed by billions in stake and thousands of operators around the world.”

Impacted employees who’ve been with the project for more than a year were given accelerated vesting on tokens, as well as three months’ base pay. Additionally, Eigen Labs is offering career support.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

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

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

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

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Pipe Network is a decentralized content delivery network (dCDN) that replaces the sparse, capital intensive data center footprint of traditional CDNs with a permissionless mesh of independent node operators. By orchestrating under-utilized resources that already exist at the edge, rather than purchasing or leasing thousands of servers, Pipe slashes capital intensity while letting supply expand autonomously in the places where bandwidth is scarcest and most expensive.

article-image

Fiscal dominance isn’t about interest rates and it isn’t about Trump, either

article-image

Firestarter Storage brings decentralized storage and delivery to Solana

article-image

After lengthy closing arguments on Wednesday, the case is now in the hands of 12 jurors

article-image

Analysts cite weak trading volume and regulatory progress as factors

article-image

Builders weigh in on Ethereum’s first decade and the decisions that will define its next one

article-image

Closing arguments set to kick off Wednesday after Tuesday’s testimony from two expert witnesses and an a16z partner