Starknet and Scroll slim teams
What happened
Two Ethereum ZK Layer‑2 projects, Starknet and Scroll, announced team downsizing and moves to simplify governance as they prioritise revenue and product delivery over pure tech development. (x.com) The announcements read as a maturation signal for scaling solutions that are shifting focus toward commercial traction. (x.com)
Why it matters
StarkWare, the main company behind Starknet, cut jobs and split itself into two units on April 13 after revenue on Starknet fell more than 99% from its late-2023 peak. (coindesk.com) Chief executive Eli Ben-Sasson told employees the company would reorganize around Starknet and StarkEx, with the Starknet side pushed toward revenue-generating work such as business development and product delivery. Decrypt reported the cuts as part of a wider efficiency drive across Ethereum infrastructure firms this year. (coindesk.com) (decrypt.co) Scroll made a parallel move earlier, overhauling its decentralized autonomous organization in a September 18, 2025 forum post and arguing that its governance process had become too slow for “rapid growth.” The new setup put the Scroll Foundation in an oversight role with veto power, while treasury allocations shifted to annual or biannual cycles. (forum.scroll.io) (theblock.co) Scroll said protocol upgrades would still be coordinated with the decentralized autonomous organization and executed by its Security Council, and said user funds were unaffected because the decentralized autonomous organization had not managed those funds since launch. The project targeted the redesigned constitution for the January 2026 voting cycle. (forum.scroll.io) (theblock.co) Both projects are part of Ethereum’s Layer 2 push, which moves batches of transactions off the main chain and posts a cryptographic proof back to Ethereum to keep costs lower. Scroll describes itself as a zero-knowledge rollup compatible with existing Ethereum code, while Starknet says it bundles transactions into a proof generated off-chain and settled on Ethereum. (docs.scroll.io) (docs.starknet.io) (starknet.io) That technical pitch has not disappeared, but the emphasis has changed. In a March 5, 2026 roadmap post, Starknet said faster finality, higher throughput and lower latency were meant to increase usage and fee revenue, tying infrastructure work directly to economics. (starknet.io) Scroll framed its own shift in similar operational terms, saying products such as ether.fi Cash were finding product-market fit while governance friction was slowing alignment and resource allocation. The project said it was “evolving, not disbanding” the decentralized autonomous organization. (forum.scroll.io) The backdrop is a tougher 2026 market for crypto employers. CoinDesk reported in March that crypto firms had cut hundreds of workers in recent weeks as companies blamed weak markets and redirected spending toward artificial intelligence and core products. (coindesk.com) For Starknet and Scroll, the immediate changes are concrete: fewer people, tighter decision-making and more pressure to turn scaling technology into paying usage. The engineering race in Ethereum’s zero-knowledge rollup sector is still running, but the balance sheet is taking a larger seat at the table. (coindesk.com) (forum.scroll.io)
Key numbers
- Two Ethereum ZK Layer‑2 projects, Starknet and Scroll, announced team downsizing and moves to simplify governance as they prioritise revenue and product delivery over pure tech development.
- (x.com) StarkWare, the main company behind Starknet, cut jobs and split itself into two units on April 13 after revenue on Starknet fell more than 99% from its late-2023 peak.
- The project targeted the redesigned constitution for the January 2026 voting cycle.
- (forum.scroll.io) (theblock.co) Both projects are part of Ethereum’s Layer 2 push, which moves batches of transactions off the main chain and posts a cryptographic proof back to Ethereum to keep costs lower.
Quick answers
What happened in Starknet and Scroll slim teams?
Two Ethereum ZK Layer‑2 projects, Starknet and Scroll, announced team downsizing and moves to simplify governance as they prioritise revenue and product delivery over pure tech development. (x.com) The announcements read as a maturation signal for scaling solutions that are shifting focus toward commercial traction. (x.com)
Why does Starknet and Scroll slim teams matter?
StarkWare, the main company behind Starknet, cut jobs and split itself into two units on April 13 after revenue on Starknet fell more than 99% from its late-2023 peak. (coindesk.com) Chief executive Eli Ben-Sasson told employees the company would reorganize around Starknet and StarkEx, with the Starknet side pushed toward revenue-generating work such as business development and product delivery. Decrypt reported the cuts as part of a wider efficiency drive across Ethereum infrastructure firms this year. (coindesk.com) (decrypt.co) Scroll made a parallel move earlier, overhauling its decentralized autonomous organization in a September 18, 2025 forum post and arguing that its governance process had become too slow for “rapid growth.” The new setup put the Scroll Foundation in an oversight role with veto power, while treasury allocations shifted to annual or biannual cycles. (forum.scroll.io) (theblock.co) Scroll said protocol upgrades would still be coordinated with the decentralized autonomous organization and executed by its Security Council, and said user funds were unaffected because the decentralized autonomous organization had not managed those funds since launch. The project targeted the redesigned constitution for the January 2026 voting cycle. (forum.scroll.io) (theblock.co) Both projects are part of Ethereum’s Layer 2 push, which moves batches of transactions off the main chain and posts a cryptographic proof back to Ethereum to keep costs lower. Scroll describes itself as a zero-knowledge rollup compatible with existing Ethereum code, while Starknet says it bundles transactions into a proof generated off-chain and settled on Ethereum. (docs.scroll.io) (docs.starknet.io) (starknet.io) That technical pitch has not disappeared, but the emphasis has changed. In a March 5, 2026 roadmap post, Starknet said faster finality, higher throughput and lower latency were meant to increase usage and fee revenue, tying infrastructure work directly to economics. (starknet.io) Scroll framed its own shift in similar operational terms, saying products such as ether.fi Cash were finding product-market fit while governance friction was slowing alignment and resource allocation. The project said it was “evolving, not disbanding” the decentralized autonomous organization. (forum.scroll.io) The backdrop is a tougher 2026 market for crypto employers. CoinDesk reported in March that crypto firms had cut hundreds of workers in recent weeks as companies blamed weak markets and redirected spending toward artificial intelligence and core products. (coindesk.com) For Starknet and Scroll, the immediate changes are concrete: fewer people, tighter decision-making and more pressure to turn scaling technology into paying usage. The engineering race in Ethereum’s zero-knowledge rollup sector is still running, but the balance sheet is taking a larger seat at the table. (coindesk.com) (forum.scroll.io)
