Eclipse Labs to Cut Workforce by 65% Following Controversial Airdrop

Eclipse Labs announces leadership change and layoffs after July token launch.

The Layer 2 network Eclipse Labs has announced a leadership change and significant layoffs as part of a new project direction following the token launch in July.

Today, Eclipse Labs announced team and leadership changes to align with a new direction post-TGE. Over the past months, we’ve explored opportunities for application development on the network. Going forward, we’ll prioritize building a breakout application on top of Eclipse’s L2…

— Eclipse (🐮,🌑) (@EclipseFND) August 25, 2025

According to the statement, the team will focus on creating a “breakthrough application” based on Eclipse’s blockchain infrastructure. Detailed information will be published later by the developers.

As part of the transformation, Sydney Huang, known on X as 0xSydney, will assume the role of CEO following the voluntary departure of Vijay Chetty (0xLitquidity). Huang previously served as a product manager.

Today I am stepping up as CEO of Eclipse.

Our mission has always been to build infrastructure that can serve real-world applications. That remains unchanged, but our focus is evolving. The next chapter is about serving end users and building those applications in-house. The…

— sydney (@0xSydney) August 25, 2025

“Our mission has always been to build infrastructure capable of serving real-world applications. That remains unchanged, but priorities are shifting. The next chapter is about serving end users and developing these products in-house,” the new company head stated.

The project will reduce its workforce by 65% to “align resources with the updated strategy.”

“This difficult decision was made to provide Eclipse with the flexibility needed to implement the next stage of the company’s development,” the statement reads.

On July 15, the project conducted a TGE and airdropped the ES token. The asset was launched on three networks: Eclipse, Ethereum, and Solana. The coin was immediately listed on exchanges Bitget, MEXC, Bybit, and Gate, and fell by 21% within the first three hours.

At the time of writing, ES is trading at around ~$0.16, 65.3% below its launch price. Over the past day, the price dropped by 7% following the reorganization news.

The token airdrop disappointed users who deemed the distribution unfair to early network investors and buyers of the project’s ASC NFTs.

Previously, Eclipse Labs prohibited the team from participating in the ES airdrop to prevent insider manipulation of the asset, which had harmed other launches.