The blockchain infrastructure company behind the Optimism network has cut 20 jobs, highlighting the looming difficulties plaguing secondary networks. OP Labs, the core builder of the layer-2 protocol, announced the workforce reduction on 12 Mar.
Optimism Builder Cuts 20 Jobs as Layer-2 Struggles Mount
12 March 2026 - 10:30 CET
Chief executive Jing Wang insisted the layoffs were not driven by financial pressure but rather by a need to streamline operations and focus on fewer projects. In a post on X addressing a group of 102 people, which may represent the total headcount of the firm, Wang did not specify which teams were impacted by the downsizing.
The rise of secondary networks
Layer-2 networks, or L2s, rose to prominence in the early 2020s when rising transaction fees and slow speeds plagued the Ethereum network. At the time, Ethereum had become the primary network for developers building new blockchain products. However, the base layer was ill-prepared to handle the deluge of new projects, leading to high fees and massive bottlenecks.
These secondary networks offered a novel solution and quickly became a mainstay of the ecosystem. The emergence of L2s gave developers a new venue for their projects while bypassing congestion. Optimism and Arbitrum emerged as the two dominant players in this sector.
Base network upgrades threaten utility
As secondary networks surged in popularity and absorbed excess capacity, the core Ethereum network began upgrading its own infrastructure to regain efficiency. Through recent major updates such as Dencun and Petra, Ethereum has built a stronger and more resilient ecosystem for developers directly on the base layer.
According to plans laid out last month by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the necessity of layer-2 networks may be diminishing as the primary blockchain scales. This shifting dynamic paints a challenging outlook for secondary networks, and recent token performance reflects this market sentiment.
Over the past 12 months, Optimism’s OP token has fallen almost 90%, and Arbitrum’s ARB has dropped 79% according to CoinMarketCap data. The performance of these tokens stands in stark contrast to Ether, which crossed $4,000 in August 2025 before retreating to below $1,800 by February 2026. ETH is currently trading at around $2,040, virtually the same price seen 12 months ago.
