The Ethereum (ETH) merge was undoubtedly one of the most historic moments in the crypto industry. However, the upgrade inclined more towards “selling the news” than any profitability. Nonetheless, the merge did increase the significance of validators on the ETH network. One of the largest validators is Stakefish. The merge increased the profile of the firm, however, it was not as smooth as one would assume.
According to reports, around 25% of Stakefish employees were laid off, or resigned, right after Ethereum’s big move. Among the people no longer with the company are two senior executives, Head of Strategy and Operations Jun Soo Kim and Head of Protocols Daniel Hwang.
CoinDesk spoke to four former and current employees, who expressed their disappointment in how the situation was handled. In total, eight staff members were let go, and three more left the business just as Stakefish was about to reap large benefits for securing Ethereum’s new miner-free network. According to the employees, the workers were not informed about their employment coming to an end. They were only told about the decision a few days before the termination.
At press time, Stakefish had about 2% of all ETH staked. In addition, it plays a significant validator role in the Cosmos, Polkadot, Polygon, and Solana ecosystems.
Did Ethereum’s merge play a hand?
Company CEO Chun Wang clarifies by saying that “It is normal in a bear market to reduce team size and optimize costs.” He further added that only non-tech positions were laid off. Additionally, he said that the company is working to hire more developers.
Many employees were surprised by the termination of the firm’s Head of Strategy and Operations, Jun Soo Kim. Kim was a potential replacement for CEO Wang, and served as an interim chief in Kims absence. However, while speaking to CoinDesk, Kim said that we left to begin his own venture.
Now, Stakefish controls almost 2% of all staked Ethereum. Although letting go of employees in common in bear markets, as seen this summer, Stakefish’s timing does put a little shade on the situation. Letting go of the employees on the day of the merge might give other ideas to people. It is entirely possible that the company is just trying to cut costs. or the other possibility is that perhaps the company is trying to keep a lion’s share of profits, when they do set in, for itself.
At press time, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $1,350.96, up by 7.3% in the last 24 hours.