MEGA cuts 20% of staff as it pivots to products, starting with AI marketplace
MEGA has cut 20% of its workforce as it shifts toward products developed in-house. The first is a planned marketplace for AI inference services. The MegaETH Foundation has committed $30 million from its existing treasury to product development on MegaETH. The marketplace’s providers, models and operating details have not been disclosed.
- Co-founder Shuyao Kong announced the staff reduction on November 13, 2026.
- The Foundation announced its rebrand and $30 million commitment on November 10, 2026.
- The first planned product is an AI inference marketplace, targeted for December. The year has not been specified.
- MEGA has not said how many employees were affected or explained the financial rationale for the cuts.
MEGA here refers to the organization making the staffing and product changes, not the MEGA token. MegaETH is the blockchain, and the MegaETH Foundation is the entity that announced the $30 million commitment. Available reporting does not identify the affected employees’ legal employer.
In a November 13 post on X, Kong said MEGA had spent “the past few months” restructuring and reorganizing its teams. Employees leaving the company had worked on the blockchain, wallet, ecosystem support and communications. Some had been involved since the project’s early days. Kong said the founders, early employees and core engineering team remained committed to work that began with MegaETH three years ago.
An AI marketplace, not an AI model announcement
MEGA’s first announced product is a marketplace for AI inference. Inference is the process of running a trained AI model to generate an answer or other output. The proposed marketplace would connect customers with services from multiple providers. MEGA has not said it plans to build its own AI models.
The project’s concern is that customers may struggle to confirm which model a provider uses or how it handles their data. That uncertainty could make it harder for unfamiliar providers to attract customers, even if they offer lower prices. Whether MEGA’s marketplace can address these concerns will depend on what customers can verify, not just how many providers it lists. Decentralized inference is one related approach drawing discussion.
A November white paper by Yilong Li and Lei Yang describes an approach called “Purified Intelligence, ” which aims to make inference more interchangeable across providers. In practice, that would let customers compare or switch services without treating each provider’s offering as entirely opaque or incompatible.
The available description does not explain how the approach would verify model identity, protect customer data, compare output quality or resolve disputes. “Purified Intelligence” is a proposal, not a demonstrated capability or established standard.
Kong told The Block that details, including which providers and models would be available, would be held back until launch. MEGA has also said network upgrades are planned to support the product, but has not described their scope. Running a marketplace on a blockchain would not, by itself, mean the AI models perform their computations on-chain.
The launch is planned for December, but the supplied reporting does not explicitly state the year. Since the Foundation’s announcement was dated November 10, 2026, December 2026 appears to be the intended target. It is not a confirmed delivery date.
From backing outside teams to building products itself
The product push follows the closure of Mega Mafia, MegaETH’s accelerator program. Crypto.news reported in July 2026 that two cohorts supported roughly 20 teams, which collectively raised about $80 million. Those funds were raised by the teams, not by or for MegaETH.
Mega Mafia provided technical and management support, along with market-making assistance related to trading and liquidity. It did not take equity, governance rights or ownership in participating projects. Kong said most successful applications supported by the program were no longer being built on MegaETH.
Crypto.news reported several different paths: Global Token Exchange decided to build its own chain, Noise chose Base, HelloTrade moved toward Monad, and Cap launched on MegaETH while pursuing a multichain strategy.
That record helps explain why MEGA may want to build products itself. Supporting independent teams does not guarantee they will stay on one network. But the accelerator’s closure does not explain why staff were cut, and it does not prove that in-house products will succeed where ecosystem support did not. “First-party” means products developed by MEGA rather than independent teams. They still have to attract users and providers on their merits. Other product launches in crypto and blockchain also reflect efforts to build services for specific user needs.
Kong has also described a focus on “OMEGA” applications designed around capabilities the team considers specific to MegaETH. Available reporting does not define those capabilities in technical detail. MegaETH’s launch history offers further context for the network’s development.
Key questions and answers
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How many employees did MEGA lay off?
MEGA said it cut 20% of its workforce. It has not disclosed the total number affected or provided a breakdown by team.
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What is the $30 million for?
The MegaETH Foundation committed the money from its existing treasury to product development on MegaETH. It has not disclosed how much has been spent or how much is set aside for the inference marketplace.
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When will the AI inference marketplace launch?
It is planned for December, but the year is not explicitly stated. Based on the November 2026 announcements, December 2026 appears to be the intended target.
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What does “Purified Intelligence” mean?
It is a proposed approach to making AI inference more interchangeable across providers. Available details do not show how it would verify models or handle privacy, output quality and disputes.
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Why does Mega Mafia matter to the pivot?
Several teams supported by the accelerator chose other networks or their own chain, showing that ecosystem support does not guarantee lasting activity on MegaETH. That history provides strategic context, but does not explain the staff cuts.
MEGA has made its strategic direction clear. The practical test is whether it can show customers what the marketplace verifies, how it handles data and how customers can compare providers.
