The IOTA Foundation is restructuring its operations and reducing its workforce as it seeks to lower operating costs, extend its financial runway, and concentrate resources on its commercial trade infrastructure initiative, according to co-founder Dominik Schiener.
In a statement shared this week, Schiener confirmed that the foundation has made the difficult decision to reduce the size of its team as part of a broader organizational restructuring. He said the move is intended to decrease the foundation’s burn rate while positioning IOTA for long-term sustainability amid changing market conditions.
The announcement reflects a broader trend across the blockchain industry, where foundations and crypto companies have increasingly shifted their focus from rapid expansion toward financial discipline and revenue-generating products after several years of volatile market conditions.
While Schiener did not disclose how many employees were affected or which departments experienced layoffs, he emphasized that the restructuring was driven by strategic priorities rather than a change in the foundation’s long-term mission.
Focus Shifts Toward Commercial Trade Infrastructure
According to Schiener, the restructuring is designed to align the organization more closely around its highest-priority initiatives, particularly TWIN, IOTA’s digital trade infrastructure platform.
TWIN has become one of the foundation’s flagship projects, aiming to modernize cross-border trade by enabling trusted digital documentation, interoperability, and verifiable data exchange between governments, customs authorities, logistics providers, and businesses.
Unlike many blockchain initiatives focused primarily on decentralized finance or consumer applications, TWIN targets enterprise and public-sector adoption. The platform is intended to support digital trade processes such as certificates of origin, customs documentation, invoices, and other trade-related records through distributed ledger technology.
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Schiener described TWIN as a potential revenue-generating business capable of supporting both the foundation’s long-term financial sustainability and its broader mission.
That commercial emphasis marks an important evolution for the IOTA Foundation, which has historically operated as a nonprofit organization focused on developing open-source distributed ledger technology rather than generating direct business revenue.
The foundation said its broader strategic priorities remain unchanged, including advancing digital public infrastructure, trusted trade systems, and real-world adoption of distributed ledger technology.
Industry Continues to Prioritize Sustainability Over Growth
The workforce reduction comes as blockchain organizations increasingly reassess their operating models following years of aggressive hiring during previous crypto market expansions.
Several prominent crypto companies, blockchain foundations, and Web3 startups have announced restructurings over the past two years as they seek to extend capital reserves, improve operational efficiency, and prioritize products with clearer commercial pathways.
For nonprofit blockchain foundations in particular, treasury management has become an increasingly important issue. Many organizations rely on digital asset holdings to fund development, making them vulnerable to prolonged market downturns and changing fundraising conditions.
Schiener framed the decision as part of a broader effort to ensure IOTA’s long-term resilience rather than a retreat from its development roadmap.
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He acknowledged the contributions of departing employees, describing the decision as difficult but necessary to strengthen the organization’s financial position and execution capabilities.
The announcement does not indicate that development of IOTA’s technology or ecosystem initiatives will cease. Instead, it suggests the foundation intends to concentrate resources on projects it believes offer the strongest potential for long-term adoption and financial sustainability.
Investors and ecosystem participants will likely watch closely to see whether TWIN can evolve from a technology initiative into a commercially successful platform. Recent presentations of TWIN at international trade forums involving organizations such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Economic Forum have demonstrated growing institutional engagement, though widespread commercial deployment remains an ongoing process.
For now, the restructuring signals that the IOTA Foundation is prioritizing financial sustainability and execution over organizational size—a strategy that has become increasingly common across the digital asset industry.
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