StarkWare downsizes workforce as it pivots from infrastructure to product-driven strategy
StarkWare is laying off staff and restructuring its operations as the firm pivots from infrastructure toward building its own revenue-generating products, co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson announced in a social post on Monday.
I am sharing here a message I shared with the StarkWare team following things I said at an All Hands meeting:
========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 | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) April 13, 2026
The blockchain company, which pioneered ZK-STARK technology for off-chain computation and on-chain verification, is shifting into a leaner product-focused firm building high-value, revenue-generating applications on its proprietary stack.
Ben-Sasson described the move as necessary to return the company to a “startup mode” mindset and improve product-market fit. He did not disclose the number of layoffs.
“We built the best, safest, most battle-tested ZK tech in blockchain. We’ve redefined blockchain using our technology, but that’s not enough,” Ben-Sasson said. “I’m anticipating with confidence our next chapter, in which we use it to advance exciting novel products that generate revenue and which cannot be built on other blockchains today.”
StarkWare will reorganize into two independently run business units, one centered on monetizable applications and the other on Starknet development. Each unit will oversee its own engineering, product, business development, and go-to-market operations.
StarkWare was founded in 2018 by a team that included some of the original inventors of STARK technology, building on decades of academic cryptographic research.
In May 2022, the team announced a $100 million funding round that raised its valuation to $8 billion, more than quadrupling its prior $2 billion valuation in late 2021.
The Ethereum scaling company, backed by investors including Greenoaks Capital, Coatue, and Tiger Global, uses STARK-based zero-knowledge rollups to improve scalability and reduce gas costs while supporting high-usage applications and building StarkNet as a broader developer platform.
