Today ConsenSys, the Ethereum blockchain studio, announced that it’s cutting 13% of its team. The group has ballooned to 1,100 members, which to date has been financed by founder Joseph Lubin. He earned billionaire status from owning large amounts Ether as the first backer and a co-founder of Ethereum. However, the current cryptocurrency price slump has dented his reserves with the Ether price dropping below $100 today. At its peak it was almost $1,400.
Hence at the end of last week, Lubin circulated a letter internally outlining his vision of ConsenSys 2.0, as first revealed by Breaker. (Letter courtesy of theBlock). “We need to focus on financial sustainability so that we can continue to do what we all believe to be important for the long-term growth of ConsenSys.”
The letter presents a view held by many seasoned startup investors: “We will seek to run leaner projects because often better decisions are made in a context of more constrained resources. Scarcity sharpens the senses and forces discernment in decision making.”
Lubin describes how future projects will be evaluated by return on investment, social impact and ecosystem value. The latter refers to the company, Ethereum, blockchain and decentralization more broadly. The company will continue to build foundational infrastructure for Ethereum and Web 3.0 and to educate. Additionally, investing in and building new ventures will be sustained. Though to maintain a place in the portfolio a venture’s position will have to be earned.
Of most relevance to enterprises is Consensys’ ongoing plan to partner to build customer-driven solutions. Though some of the solutions will be re-evaluated and there are new priorities. These include targeting specific industries such as finance, supply chain (cross-industry), telecoms and energy.
Along the same lines, there’s the desire to work with industry players and consortia to “develop open platforms and transform, even disrupt, historically intermediated markets.”
Consensys made two significant statements today. The positive one came first, with the announcement that blockchain security company Trustology has been spun out and raised external finance.
