The Verge: ConsenSys could be laying off as many as 50-60% of its employees

ConsenSys, the Ethereum production studio, could be laying off as many as 50-60% of its employees, according to The Verge. Documents reviewed by The Verge show that the production studio is spinning out a large number of its spokes. Spokes are essentially startups incubated by ConsenSys' venture studio, ConsenSys Labs. According to ConsenSys Lab's website, it has incubated over 50 spokes to date.

According to The Verge, ConsenSys is forcing out spokes in favor of those building "core Ethereum tools." These core tools are products that make it easier for dApps to build on Ethereum. Examples include MetaMask, Infura, PegaSys, Alethio, Kaleido, and Truffle. Spun-off spokes will be given the option of "either two months of severance or an equity stake of nearly 10 percent and a convertible note that would represent around a month of a spoke’s burn rate as part of a deal for a spin out."

“It was so shady,” a source told The Verge. “They were firing people they had hired two weeks beforehand. They were firing people who were pregnant. Whose wives were pregnant.”

This news comes after the company reportedly laid off 13% of its staff and its founder, Joe Lubin, sent out a company letter stating that it will be restructuring to transition from ConsenSys 1.0 to ConsenSys 2.0.