ConsenSys slashes headcount 11% as chief economist reveals formula for adoption

ConsenSys, the genitor institution down MetaMask, is letting spell of 11% of its workforce, with CEO Joseph Lubin blaming “uncertain marketplace conditions” brought connected by caller collapses.

In a blog station from ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin connected Jan. 18, the blockchain steadfast CEO said “poorly behaved” centralized concern (CeFi) actors person formed a “broad pall connected our ecosystem that we volition each request to enactment through.”

Lubin said the determination volition interaction 96 employees and is portion of plans to absorption its resources connected its halfway businesses.

— Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) January 18, 2023

Speaking to Cointelegraph a fewer days earlier the layoffs were officially announced — though they had already been wide reported — Lex Sokolin, the main cryptoeconomics serviceman of ConsenSys said that the manufacture was inactive acold from wide adoption globally.

“We're inactive successful a spot wherever this is emerging technology. It’s not wholly good understood by the full public,” helium said.

According to Consensys, during the past bull run, implicit 30 cardinal users each period were utilizing MetaMask to entree DeFi protocols, mint and commercialized NFTs and enactment successful DAOs. While promising, that’s a driblet successful the water globally.

“MetaMask has 30 cardinal monthly users and successful Web3, determination are possibly 500 cardinal addresses,” Sokolin said. “But that’s not 5 cardinal people.”

Asked erstwhile crypto volition spot mainstream adoption, Sokolin said it was each astir having capable compelling usage cases for crypto, arsenic good arsenic a thriving ecosystem to enactment it.

Lex Sokolin, Chief Cryptoeconomist, ConsenSys Source: Lexsokolin.com

He besides rejected the thought that it volition travel arsenic a effect of amended idiosyncratic acquisition and clearer regulations.

“They're not the things that radical accidental [such as] ‘when is UI going to beryllium better’, oregon ‘when is regularisation going to marque it better.’ Those are important, but [...] they're not the catalyst,” said Sokolin adding:

“The catalyst of things is, one: Is determination going to beryllium capable worldly to bargain connected Web3 that I privation to own?”

“If I unrecorded successful Web3 and my avatar and my societal media and my information and my presumption arsenic a person, prestige, assemblage belonging [...] is tied to maine owning integer objects [...] you're gonna inevitably get to a spot wherever everyone wants to beryllium doing commercialized transactions successful Web3.”

“So for me, economical adoption is the astir important thing. Because it's going to propulsion the remainder of it into the ecosystem.”

Related: Crypto adoption successful 2022: What events moved the manufacture forward?

In his latest post, Lubin said the institution volition beryllium focused connected streaming its workforce and focusing its concern connected halfway worth drivers, including end-user custody solution MetaMask, developer level Infura, and “new offerings” that turn Web3 commerce and decentralized autonomous enactment (DAO) communities.