Polygon Slashes 30% Staff in Pivot to Stablecoin Payments

Polygon Labs is radically restructuring its operations, slashing approximately 30% of its workforce while simultaneously deploying over $250 million to acquire crypto payments firm Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence. The move marks a definitive pivot from general-purpose scaling to a vertically integrated, regulated stablecoin payments platform.

POL POL $0.14 24h volatility: 8.2% Market cap: $1.52 B Vol. 24h: $102.53 M is trading at $0.14 (-6.0%) following the disclosure.

Pivot: Open Money Stack

In a blog post detailing the acquisitions, CEO Marc Boiron outlined the Open Money Stack strategy. By purchasing Coinme (licensed in 48 US states) and Sequence, Polygon is effectively buying its way into regulated US payment rails and user-friendly wallet infrastructure.

The deal flow:

• Coinme: A licensed crypto cash exchange with access to 50,000+ retail locations (e.g., Coinstar kiosks). Boiron called this physical footprint a “Trojan horse” for onboarding.
• Sequence: Wallet and cross-chain orchestration infrastructure to smooth user friction.
• The cost: Combined deal value exceeds $250 million.

Headcount Shuffle

While spending heavily on M&A, the lab is cutting deep internally. Boiron confirmed the 30% reduction in an interview, framing it as a consolidation rather than a contraction. The narrative? Clearing the decks for the incoming teams from the acquisitions.

“Ultimately, we become a regulated payments platform. And our goal here is to offer one fully, vertically integrated stack that can allow anyone to use stablecoins to move money anywhere,” Marc Boiron stated.

This follows a 19% staff cut in early 2024 and the spin-off of Polygon Ventures, continuing a multi-year effort to streamline the sprawling organization.

General Landscape

This is a capitulation on the “general purpose L2” narrative. Polygon is effectively conceding that it cannot compete on pure speed or memecoin liquidity against Base and Arbitrum. Instead, they are betting the house on becoming the “Stripe of Web3”.

The Coinme acquisition is the critical differentiator here; while other L2s fight for on-chain natives, Polygon is buying physical distribution and regulatory licenses to capture the remittance and settlement market. Expect near-term sell pressure on POL as the “tech” premium evaporates in favor of a “utility” valuation model.

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