OP Labs CEO Jing Wang confirmed that 20% of the company’s workforce will be leaving the company, and clarified that the decision was driven by strategic focus rather than financial pressures.
This news comes just three weeks after Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, left Optimism, causing a 23% collapse in OP token prices.
OP Labs frames cutting as a strategic axis
Wang released an internal memo confirming the departure, saying OP Institute has a long-standing runway and is well capitalized.
He wrote that this decision was focused on performing less work and performing at a higher level while reducing the overhead of coordination between teams. Retiring employees will receive:
- At least 3 months’ worth of basic salary
- Up to 5 months of additional compensation will be provided depending on the length of service.
- All affected staff will be placed on a six-month medical continuum.
- Each employee keeps a laptop.
Mr. Wang said he would personally ensure that the resumes of departing team members reach future employers, and called on recruiting teams to DM him with open positions for direct introduction.
Today we shared some difficult news with the OP Labs team.
Our priority was to communicate with those affected and give our team time to process the news before sharing it with the public. This decision reflects a narrowing of our focus, not our runway.
I would like to share the memo I sent to… pic.twitter.com/rJThhlcFaw
— Optimist Prime (@jinglejamOP) March 12, 2026
OP token slides as news is released
Optimism (OP) had been rising throughout early trading, reaching above $0.12 in the hours leading up to the announcement. Once the confirmation was broken, the token flipped sharply.
At the time of writing, OP was trading at $0.119, near its session low of $0.109. The token has fallen more than 55% since the beginning of the year, and its all-time high of $4.84 hit in March 2024 is now a distant reference point.
Optimism (OP) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
Particularly in recent memory, the first Optimism price crash occurred just under three weeks ago, when OP’s market value fell by 23%.
It follows the news that Base L2 will be leaving the Optimism ecosystem to build its own stack, according to Wilson Cusack, the chain’s head of product.
New integrated stack for Base Chain
We are excited to share that we are evolving a technology roadmap consisting of proprietary specifications, code, and infrastructure to accelerate the foundation of Base. This change has given us the autonomy to ship protocol improvements more frequently and focus our efforts.
— wilson.base.eth (@WilsonCusack) February 18, 2026
What continues, what stops
Wang told the remaining staff that the goal is not to redistribute the same workload to fewer people. Your work will not be redistributed and will be deleted.
He worked to clarify which initiatives would continue and which would be suspended.
Optimism is leading the OP Stack infrastructure initiative, which powers multiple chains across the Superchain ecosystem, including Base.
The question now is which elements of that broader roadmap will focus the team going forward.
Wang’s memo to staff suggests further details about priorities will emerge, and the market and broader developer community will be waiting for more details about what a leaner OP Labs is looking to build.
A note from Jing Wang, CEO of OP Labs, to the Optimism community. Source: Github
This article, OP Labs CEO Jing Wang outlines Optimism’s 20% layoff, was first published on BeInCrypto.
