MegaETH Cuts 20% of Workforce as It Shifts Focus Toward AI Marketplace

MEGA, the organization behind Ethereum Layer 2 network MegaETH, has reduced its workforce by 20% as it prepares to expand beyond blockchain infrastructure and develop artificial intelligence products.

Co-founder Shuyao Kong announced the restructuring on November 13, confirming that employees involved in the blockchain, wallet, and ecosystem teams were affected. The company did not disclose the exact number of positions eliminated, but said its founders, early employees, and core engineering team remain committed to the project.

The move comes shortly after the MegaETH Foundation rebranded as MEGA and committed $30 million from its treasury toward developing products on the network. Its first major initiative is an AI marketplace scheduled for December.

MegaETH Restructures as It Moves Beyond Blockchain

Kong explained that the organization had spent several months reviewing its structure and strategic direction before deciding to reduce its workforce. The restructuring affected people who had contributed to developing MegaETH’s blockchain, wallet, and broader ecosystem. Some employees had reportedly been involved with the project since its early stages.

Kong said the team no longer wanted to operate exclusively as a blockchain infrastructure company, arguing that doing so would mean overlooking a significant opportunity in artificial intelligence. The shift reflects MEGA’s intention to build products directly on its network rather than focus solely on providing the underlying technology for other applications.

The organization has committed $30 million from its existing treasury to support this strategy. AI services are expected to be the starting point, although the company has not disclosed how the funding will be distributed across its planned products.

AI Marketplace Planned for December

MEGA’s first planned product is an AI inference marketplace that will allow customers to access services from competing AI model providers.

AI inference refers to the process through which trained artificial intelligence models generate responses, predictions, or other outputs based on user requests. The proposed marketplace aims to make it easier for customers to compare and access different services.

According to the project’s white paper, the platform could introduce mechanisms allowing users to verify which models providers are actually using and reserve computing capacity at agreed prices.

These features are intended to address concerns surrounding transparency, service reliability, and access to computing resources. However, MEGA has not confirmed which capabilities will be available when the marketplace launches or identified the providers and models expected to participate.

MegaETH DeFi Activity Drops as Network Faces Challenges

The strategic shift comes as activity across MegaETH’s decentralized finance ecosystem has declined considerably.

Data from DeFiLlama showed that the network’s total value locked (TVL) had fallen to approximately $8.8 million, down from a peak exceeding $245 million. The decline highlights the challenges MegaETH faces in maintaining liquidity and attracting activity to its blockchain applications. The MEGA token has also struggled, losing more than 70% of its value this year.

Initially developed as an Ethereum scaling solution focused on making blockchain applications, including trading platforms and games, faster, MegaETH is now seeking additional use cases through AI-related services.

The company hopes that building products on its own infrastructure will create new demand for the network and expand its role beyond decentralized finance.

MEGA’s AI Ambitions Will Test Its New Strategy

The workforce reduction and product expansion represent a significant change in direction for the organization behind MegaETH. Rather than concentrating primarily on blockchain infrastructure, MEGA is positioning itself at the intersection of decentralized technology and artificial intelligence.

However, the success of this approach will depend on whether the planned marketplace can attract customers, AI providers, and sufficient computing resources. Its proposed verification features will also need to demonstrate practical value before they can distinguish the platform from competing services.

MEGA has also indicated that its new products will operate on MegaETH, while the network continues working toward planned decentralization changes expected by the end of March 2027.

The upcoming marketplace launch will therefore be an important milestone. It could help establish a new source of activity for the network, but the company still faces the challenge of rebuilding momentum after a substantial decline in DeFi participation.

Will decentralized AI marketplaces become an important use case for Ethereum scaling networks, or will established AI providers maintain their advantage?