Near Protocol Project Octopus Network Lays Off 40% of Employees

The Octopus Network is a decentralized app chain that is built using the NEAR protocol. It has announced just recently that it is one of the victims of the current market situation. Survival has become difficult, and the Octopus Network had no choice but to take tough decisions to restructure itself.. One of these decisions includes laying off almost 40% of its employees. The percentage accounts for 12 out of 30 employees. Another decision is to reduce the salary of the remaining employees by 20%. The concept of earning a team token incentive would also be suspended indefinitely with immediate effect.

The founder of the Octopus Network, Louis Liu, mentioned that he’s lived through quite a number of crypto winters. He even mentioned that the ongoing winter is entirely different from the previous ones. Liu also presented his thoughts, saying that he expects the winter to last for an additional year or longer. As long as new Web3 developments are concerned, he stated he believes that they wouldn’t be able to survive.

The Octopus Network isn’t solely focusing on laying off employees. The firm has even expressed its plans to condense its operations and focus on building the next year. These include fully connecting multiple app chains to Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol enabled blockchains. The IBC is an open-source protocol specially crafted to handle a few operations. These operations include authenticating and the transfer of data between blockchains.

The Founder of the Octopus Network Speaks Out

The founder believes that ensuring the survival of the Octopus Network is something that must be prioritized. The network was involved in diligently working on the IBC for over 2 years. The NEAR protocol was always regarded as the best L1 blockchain to host a series of Web3 applications. This is backed up by the levels of scalability and usability it offers.

The operational structure of the Octopus Network is bound to change based on new implementations. Despite reducing the headcount, Liu thanked those employees for working diligently. He even stated that he greatly appreciates their dedication and competence toward day-to-day operations. There was even an announcement of a community call on January 8^th, 2023 where all queries would be cleared. The Octopus Network is always open to suggestions as it believes improving considerably is a necessity.