StarkWare Lays Off Staff and Splits Into Two Business Units

StarkWare, the company behind the Ethereum L2 network Starknet, is cutting part of its workforce and reorganizing into two separate business divisions. The announcement came from CEO Eli Ben-Sasson.

"StarkWare is adapting its strategy, with a clear goal – to lead blockchain. So far, we've secured our position as technology leaders: we built the best ZK…" — Eli Ben-Sasson (@EliBenSasson), original post

Ben-Sasson did not disclose the exact scale or timeline of the layoffs but emphasized that the moves would help StarkWare return to a startup model and achieve product-market fit more quickly. He described the resulting structure as "more agile."

The company plans to take full control over its proving stack, encompassing Cairo, Sierra, and quantum-safe STARK cryptography. The goal is to reduce dependency on external L1 blockchains and third-party applications.

Ben-Sasson acknowledged that while StarkWare has built the best stack for Layer 1 scaling, infrastructure alone is not enough. Applications demonstrate the power of the technology, but the company has not been operating at full capacity — and changing that requires an internal transformation.

How the New Structure Works

The restructuring creates two distinct divisions:

• An application-focused, revenue-oriented unitled by current CPO Avihu Levy. Levy recently proposed a method for quantum-resistant Bitcoin transactions without a soft fork and will now focus on building commercially viable products using the company's technology stack.
• A revamped Starknet development unit under current Head of Product Tom Brand, who will also assume the role of General Manager.

Ben-Sasson also announced several other leadership changes:

• CFO Ran Greenstein takes on responsibility for HR, security, and IT;
• Core network development lead Gideon Kaempfer moves to the role of Chief Architect;
• COO Oren Katz has resigned but will continue serving through the end of April;
• The legal department remains under the leadership of Catherine Kirkpatrick Boss.

Why This Matters

The restructuring comes amid a dramatic collapse in network revenue. In late 2023, Starknet was generating approximately $6 million in monthly revenue. By contrast, total revenue for the first half of 2026 amounted to roughly $48,000.

The revenue decline partly reflects broader industry trends. Starknet's competitors faced similar headwinds after the Ethereum Dencun upgrade went live, which sharply reduced fee-based income for L2 networks.

As of publication, Starknet's total value locked (TVL) stands at $241 million, down from a peak of $330 million recorded in January 2026.

A Broader Wave of Crypto Layoffs

StarkWare is far from alone in tightening its belt. In mid-March, both Crypto.com and Algorand announced significant workforce reductions. Earlier in 2026, Messari, OP Labs, Polygon, and Mantra took similar steps.

The layoff trend underscores the challenging economic environment across the crypto industry, where many projects are forced to rethink their business models amid declining fees and intensifying competition among L2 solutions.