Crypto Data Company Dune Cuts 25% of Staff | Crypto ETF News
Crypto ETF news: Crypto Data Company Dune Cuts 25% of Staff. This update explains what changed, why it matters for institutional adoption, market flows, and investor sentiment, and what the crypto market should watch next.
Institutional And ETF Update
Crypto data company Dune said it is laying off 25% of its workforce, citing a need to restructure its business to focus on its core products.“We’re restructuring Dune to sharpen our focus around the core data products thousands of customers across the crypto industry rely on,” Dune co-founder and CEO Fredrik Haga posted to X on Thursday. “That unfortunately means we’ve let 25% of the team go this week.”Haga did not share the number of staff who were laid off. The company’s LinkedIn shows about 150 employees. Haga said the company remained “well capitalized” and that Dune was “all-in” on artificial intelligence and growing institutional interest in crypto.Layoffs and closures are rising across the crypto and tech sectors this year, with many companies citing AI as both a help and a hindrance.Just this month, Coinbase cut 700 employees, or about 14% of its workforce, on May 5, citing an increase in AI use, while the crypto news outlet DL News shuttered on Friday, citing part of the reason was decreased reach in internet search results due to AI aggregation.Haga said that Dune’s Model Context Protocol, or MCP, which allows AI to interact with the platform, means “teams and agents can now build dashboards and workflows without needing to know anything” about data infrastructure or SQL, a programming language for databases.Source: Fredrik HagaHe added the company would also be “investing heavily” in its data products and services for institutions, as the company sees “currencies, stocks, bonds, commodities and more” are moving onchain.Related: How AI became crypto’s favorite reason to cut staffDune’s cutbacks add to the more than 5,000 jobs eliminated at major crypto companies this year.Block Inc. undertook the biggest round of layoffs of a crypto company so far in 2026, halving its workforce and cutting 4,000 staff in February.The crypto exchanges Gemini and Crypto.com also laid off 200 and around 180 employees, respectively, earlier this year, with each citing the rising use of AI for efficiency gains.Layoffs are also widespread in the US tech sector, with 137 companies cutting nearly 109,000 jobs so far in 2026, according to data from Layoffs.fyi.Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026
Why This ETF News Matters
First, this development may affect institutional demand, exchange flows, market liquidity, and broader investor confidence. In addition, it may influence custody trends, fund positioning, and future crypto product approvals. As a result, traders and investors should watch the next moves closely.
What To Watch Next
Watch for filing updates, approval decisions, inflow and outflow data, custody changes, and asset manager commentary. In particular, any new developments involving BlackRock, Grayscale, Fidelity, or major spot ETF products could directly affect the broader crypto market.
