Dune, a crypto data platform used for on-chain dashboards and blockchain analytics, cut 25% of its team as it restructures around AI products and institutional clients.
Fredrik Haga, Dune's co-founder and chief executive officer, announced the layoffs in a May 14 post on X, saying the company is narrowing its focus around the core data products used by customers across the crypto industry.
Fredrik Haga
Haga also added Dune remains "well capitalized" and is now going "all-in" on AI and institutions coming on-chain.
- The layoffs come just over two months after Haga wrote on X that Dune had conducted 300 candidate interviews in February and was hiring for several roles.
- In the same post, he said candidates needed strong "AI fluency," adding that "if you are not hands on AImaxxxing and exploring how AI changes your domain we won't hire you."
- Dune's product pages say it covers over 100 chains, has more than 1 million users and 1.5 million datasets.
Dune narrows its crypto data bet
Founded in 2018 by Fredrik Haga and Mats Julian Olsen, Dune started as a way to make blockchain data easier to query and share.
In 2020, the company said it raised a $2 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, with Multicoin Capital, Hashed, Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group also among its backers.
In 2022, Dune raised $69.42 million in a Series B round led by Coatue, with participation from Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital, reaching a $1 billion valuation.
Dune is the latest crypto firm to cut staff while pointing to AI as part of the next operating model. Coinbase recently cut about 14% of its workforce as it pushed toward smaller, more AI-driven teams, while Crypto.com also reduced staff after rolling out enterprise-wide AI.