The Offboarding

Documenting why people leave #web3, and how to keep them. Weekly analysis. Data, patterns, solutions.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

450 positions cut in a few weeks.

New job postings down 80%.

Exit data is accelerating. And the reasons tell the story:

"Weak market conditions" = we can't afford you
"AI efficiency gains" = we don't need you

Both lead to the same outcome: people leaving, voluntarily or not.

[Wu Blockchain @WuBlockchain]

Crypto hiring demand has sharply contracted in early 2026, with new job postings across major crypto job boards averaging about 6.5 per day, down roughly 80% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, several crypto firms have recently announced layoffs, including Algorand Foundation, Gemini, Cryptocom, OP Labs, and PIP Labs. Based on disclosed figures, about 450 positions have been cut within a few weeks. Some companies cited weak market conditions and falling token prices, while others pointed to efficiency gains from integrating AI.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

"It became everything it was against."
-Long-term #web3 believers

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Tapp announced its shutdown today. Moar had already announced its shutdown on April 18.

Different timelines, same direction.

When multiple projects wind down in a short period, the signal isn’t about isolated execution issues, it points to ecosystem-level pressure.

The trend is hard to ignore: @Aptos is seeing contraction, not consolidation.

[Tapp Exchange @TappExchange]

Tapp Exchange is winding down. The protocol will remain fully operational until 31 May 2026. All user assets are secure and available for withdrawal.

Since launching in June 2025, we built the first V4-style DEX on Aptos and shipped continuously - ve(3,3) voting mechanisms, emission distribution, bribe infrastructure, and governance tools that put liquidity decisions in the hands of veTAPP holders.

$1.95B in volume later, we're proud of what we built, and we could not have come this far without you. To everyone who provided liquidity, locked, voted, traded, or supported us: thank you. You shaped this protocol.

Wind-down timeline:

1 May, 2026: The protocol remains fully operational. You can deposit, withdraw, trade, lock, and vote as normal.

May 31, 2026: The frontend will be taken offline. After this date, withdrawals will only be possible via direct smart contract interaction on-chain.

Please withdraw your assets before May 31.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. Long live DeFi.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Exit data backs this.

"It became everything it was against."

Builders leave when they realize:
- Decentralization = marketing, not reality
- Same VCs, same power dynamics
- Infrastructure = AWS, not distributed
- Revolution = rebranded extraction

They don't complain publicly. They just quietly exit.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

@daki3crypto The exits in this thread already happened. The title changed. The scope shrunk. The headcount “froze.”

18 months is when the calendar catches up to what the org chart already decided.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Exit data reveals #web3's real problems:

Not bear markets. Not regulation.

It's this:

• Strong products that can't find users
• Communities built for airdrops, not belief
• Marketing teams that don't understand the tech
• Governance that's theater, not democracy
• Retail funding VC exits
• Leadership calling retail "a distraction"

People don't leave because crypto failed. They leave because it worked exactly as designed for insiders.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Another #Aptos project winding down.

Moar built a solid product, hit $7.5M TVL, shipped post-launch features, grew through the October crash.

And it still wasn't enough.

Exit data: when the ecosystem can't sustain good builders, the good builders leave.

Respectful exit. Painful outcome.

[Moar Market @MoarMarket]

Moar is entering reduce-only mode. All user assets are secure and available for withdrawal.

Since inception, we built and scaled a DeFi primitive to $7.5M in TVL, and shipped continuously post-launch — including leveraged CLMM, auto-rebalance, and LP position analytics.

To everyone who used Moar or supported us: thank you. You shaped the product.

We’re proud of what we built together.

Wind-down timeline

Today, April 17 2026 — No new positions can be opened. Existing positions enter reduce-only mode.

April 29, 2026 — Pyth is no longer pushing feeds on Aptos, effective April 30. The protocol is migrating supported collaterals to Chainlink push feeds. Assets for which Chainlink is pushing feeds will continue through the wind-down. Assets without Chainlink push feeds will be force-closed on April 29, one day before Pyth stops pushing feeds. Affected assets:

- KAPT/USD
- xBTC/USD
- wBTC/USD
- AMI/USD

If you hold a position in these or you have any of these assets as collateral in your credit account, please close and withdraw before April 29.

May 15, 2026 — Frontend will be taken offline. After this date, withdrawals will only be possible via direct smart contract interaction on-chain.

Thank you for building with us.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

"Treating the crypto community as a personal ATM."

-Justin Sun, breaking with World Liberty Financial

Exit pattern: when even major investors publicly call out the grift, retail has already left.

The insiders fight over the spoils.
The believers? They exited months ago.

[Token Metrics @tokenmetricsinc]

BREAKING: Justin Sun publicly breaks with Trump-backed World Liberty Financial, calling its $75M DeFi loan move "treating the crypto community as a personal ATM."

Sun was once WLFI's largest outside backer.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Meta leak shows what exit data will capture next:

People being measured on how well they use the AI that's replacing them.

"AI-driven impact" in reviews = your job is training your replacement.

This is happening in #web3 too. Just quieter.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Hiring people who "vibe" with crypto but can't explain the tech? That was never sustainable.

The market is correcting this mistake. Painfully.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Exit data shows which marketing roles get cut first:

The ones who never understood the product.
The ones who just reposted influencer takes.
The ones who measured success in engagement, not adoption.

"Deep understanding of tech" wasn't a nice-to-have. It was survival.

And most crypto marketing teams didn't have it.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

@thal0x Sorry you're going through this.

If it helps: you're part of a wave. 450+ disclosed crypto layoffs in recent weeks.

The market is brutal right now, but engineers with real blockchain experience are still valuable.

Hope you find something soon. Good luck.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

@WuBlockchain Amber went from 1,300 employees to major cuts after FTX.

Exit data: contagion events like FTX don't just hurt one company. They cascade.

3AC, FTX, then Amber. Each collapse triggers the next wave of exits.

And the people in between? Exit data.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

"Retail crypto interest is a distraction."

Exit data shows: when leadership thinks this way, the people who built for retail eventually leave.

Mission misalignment = top exit reason.

Interesting take from a chain that built its early momentum through community and retail users.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Layoffs hitting crypto hard.

Some cite "weak markets."
Some cite "AI efficiency."

Exit data question: how many of these are actually just bad management?

Overhiring in bull → Panic cutting in bear → Blaming macro

The employees pay the price for planning failures.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Exit data reveals an uncomfortable truth:

Many #web3 layoffs aren't about market conditions or AI.

They're about bad management.

Overhiring during bull run → Panic cutting in bear → Blaming "macro" when it was just poor planning

The people paying the price? Employees who did nothing wrong.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

1,000+ layoffs at Epic Games.

This isn't crypto. But the pattern is the same:

Build modes people love → Market doesn't sustain them → Shut down → Layoffs

Exit data shows this across all of tech right now. Gaming, #web3, AI tooling.

When growth stalls, people leave (or get pushed out).

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

Exit data backs this.

"Crypto became a memecoin casino."

That's a top reason long-term builders leave. Not because memecoins exist, but because they became the dominant culture.

Revolutionary tech → Gambling
Utility → Hype cycles

When speculation wins, builders exit.

[DBCrypto @DBCrypt0]

Memecoins are a net negative for crypto

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

What happened?

The builders left.

Exit data shows the pattern: when the best people realize the ecosystem can't sustain what they build, they don't complain on Twitter.

They just quietly move to where things are actually shipping.

Crypto Twitter is boring because the interesting people already exited.

[The Offboarding @theoffboarding]

We built everything
But the users never came
Empty protocol

-Exit haiku, for World Poetry Day

From the data: the hardest exits aren't failures. They're solid products with no market.

[Pop Crave @PopCrave]

Today is World Poetry Day.