MEGA cuts 20% of staff and pivots toward AI inference products

$MEGA, the organization formerly known as the MegaETH Foundation, has cut 20% of its staff as part of a broader restructuring. It is also shifting strategy toward building its own products, starting with AI inference.

Co-founder Shuyao Kong confirmed the changes on November 13, 2026, following a stretch of internal reorganization. The timing is notable. The network $MEGA was built to support has seen most of its deposited capital leave.

Who is leaving, who is staying, and where the money goes

The layoffs mainly hit people working on early chain development, wallet development and ecosystem support. Those roles are the scaffolding of a young network: building the base layer, making it usable, and courting outside projects to build on top.

The people who designed the core system are staying. According to the research findings, the core founders and the engineering team will remain intact.

On the money side, $MEGA has set aside $30 million from its existing treasury for new products on the MegaETH network. The treasury is the organization’s reserve of funds, so this is a reallocation of money already on hand rather than a fresh raise.

The first product on the list is a public AI inference marketplace, which $MEGA plans to launch in December 2026. If the schedule holds, that leaves roughly a month between the restructuring announcement and the debut.

A marketplace for inference would, in principle, let buyers and sellers of that computing work meet in one venue. $MEGA’s stated aim is to use the technology behind MegaETH to bring more competition and transparency to how inference services get provided.

From network steward to product builder

MegaETH is an Ethereum Layer 2 network. Layer 2s are separate systems that process transactions off Ethereum’s main chain, then settle back to it, with the goal of making activity faster and cheaper.

The restructuring changes that posture. $MEGA wants to become a tenant in its own building, developing first-party products that showcase what the underlying technology can do.

The rebrand from MegaETH Foundation to $MEGA reflects that broader change in vision. Dropping the network name from the organization’s identity signals that the team sees itself as more than a single chain’s caretaker.

$MEGA has framed the pivot around something it calls “purified intelligence,” which leans on cryptography to make AI inference more trustworthy. The organization is also distancing itself from being seen purely as an AI company.

The TVL problem in the background

MegaETH’s TVL peaked above $245 million in May 2026. It has since fallen to approximately $12 million, and by some recent readings even less.

The $MEGA token itself is relatively new. It premiered on exchanges on April 30, 2026, meaning the TVL peak arrived shortly after listing and the decline followed in the months since.

What this means for $MEGA and its token holders

For $MEGA token holders, the pivot cuts both ways. The $30 million commitment signals that leadership is willing to spend real resources to find a use case that brings activity back to the network.

An AI inference marketplace, if it gains traction, would give MegaETH something it currently lacks: a reason for users to show up that the team controls directly.

The risks are just as clear. A 20% staff reduction narrows the team at the exact moment it is taking on a new product line. Ecosystem support was one of the functions cut, which could make it harder to attract outside builders even if the marketplace works.

For now, $MEGA has made its bet: a smaller team, a $30 million budget, and a wager that AI inference can give its network the purpose that general-purpose ecosystem building did not.