The "town hall" of ConsenSys shows the agitated staff at the biggest Ethereum startup



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The municipal chat records of a town hall held on Friday by the ConsumSys ethereum production studio show that employees are facing uncertainty over recently announced layoffs.

One day after confirming that 13% of the staff would be cut into what CEO Joseph Lubin called a "restructuring of priorities", the corporate leadership held a meeting with open hands to answer questions from members of his team of about 1,200 people, a meeting documented in a live chat displayed by CoinDesk.

"How many months of catwalk do we have?", Asked an anonymous user.

"I'd like to lose my position for a colleague (fired) I know will add more value to ConsenSys than me," wrote an employee named in the chat. "It's possible?"

While CoinDesk was able to observe the company chat in real time, the corresponding video streaming responses from the ConsenSys management were not viewable.

However, due to what appears to be a reticence from ConsenSys staff members to discuss the ongoing situation within the company, the chat logs present the most complete snapshot until today the main questions still in progress in one of the most important companies in the blockchain sector.

"We are not commenting on internal conversations," a ConsenSys spokesperson told CoinDesk on Tuesday. "Frankly, these tactics are below you and the role of the CD plays in the ecosystem as a source of truthful information."

However, the cutting of the ConsenSys staff could be a sign of a bigger change at the start, itself made up of a network of projects and startups all dedicated to building cases of use on the blockchain ethereum. ConsenSys has so far refused to share which startups, or "spokes", will be more affected by the cuts.

"We are taking a close look at financial sustainability," Lubin told CoinDesk in an interview last week.

Some for, some against

On Friday, most of the chat participants were openly critical of the announced layoffs.

"The wave of redundancies seemed to evoke order 66," wrote an anonymous staff, referring to "Star Wars". "It seemed ruthless and fast.The values ​​that we claim to profess and to keep dear in reality have a weight?"

"Who will be held responsible for the decisions that have brought us in this situation?" He wrote another one. "Who and how?"

Others have asked directly about the financial status of the company, and it is unclear whether they have received answers.

"Joe [Lubin] at the beginning of today he said at the current price [around $85 per ETH] we have many months of track. I wanted to clarify if it was correct? ", He asked a user." The track of thought has been previously referred to as years ".

Although some of the chat participants used names that match those of current ConsenSys employees, it is impossible to verify whether other strangers also participated. Even without corresponding answers, the questions themselves reflect the internal sentiment while ConsenSys embarks on a path of strengthening the belt and corporate responsibility.

Apart from the criticism, some participants in the chat expressed an optimistic tone about the moves and expressed support for the vision "ConsenSys 2.0", presented for the first time by Lubin a week before.

"I'm happy that ConsenSys went ahead with this and I think it should have happened a lot sooner," wrote an anonymous user. "Too many people were dealing with the benevolence of Joe."

"Thanks for all the opps," wrote a staff member. "I am more determined than ever to make C2.0 a success and I am proud to be here."

Write on the wall

While many questions remain, most agree that the period of rapid growth of ConsenSys could not continue.

"At a certain point this had to happen, but we did not expect the change [to come] so fast, "said a recently fired ConsenSys employee, who CoinDesk is guaranteeing anonymity." Probably the ETH price has forced this to happen. "

The rise of ConsenSys from a famous Bushwick port to a company with a "network" of 50 companies around the world has been funded internally to date (although Lubin has suggested that this could change as part of the 2.0 push ). Yet, while the payrolls have skyrocketed with the growth of ConsenSys, revenues have not kept pace.

While Lubin shifts his company to greater responsibility and rigor, the company could also consolidate its leadership degrees.

Many employees – both in the city hall on Friday and in private at CoinDesk – have claimed to have been surprised by the rapid downsizing of a culture that had previously hindered the centralized authority.

Sources with the knowledge of the company told CoinDesk that more cuts in personnel are possible.

"Why did the leadership team that brought us here feel the need to reveal who they are?" Asked an anonymous employee on Friday. "What are they afraid of being honest with the network?"

ConsenSys image through CoinDesk archives

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