The IOTA Foundation is reducing its team as part of an organizational restructuring aimed at lowering operating costs and extending its financial runway, Dominik Schiener, co-founder of IOTA, said in a post on X. The move places renewed emphasis on TWIN, the foundation’s cross-border trade infrastructure initiative, which Schiener described as central to turning IOTA’s real-world adoption strategy into a revenue-generating business.
IOTA Foundation Cuts Staff to Lower Burn Rate
Schiener said the foundation shared the decision internally this week, framing the staff reductions as part of a broader effort to reduce burn rate and preserve runway. He did not disclose the number of roles affected, the departments involved, or the foundation’s current financial position.
“This week, we shared difficult news internally: as part of an organizational restructuring, the IOTA Foundation is reducing the size of its team to lower our burn rate and further extend our runway,” Schiener wrote. “These decisions are never easy. Our industry is going through a significant structural shift, and like every serious project we are making hard choices now so that we can emerge from it stronger and more financially independent.”
The announcement places IOTA among crypto organizations adjusting costs after a prolonged period of uneven market conditions and tighter funding across parts of the digital asset sector. Schiener said the foundation is “saying goodbye to talented colleagues who have contributed greatly to IOTA,” adding that the organization wanted to thank them “for everything they have helped build.”
Schiener Says TWIN Remains Core Priority
Schiener said the restructuring is intended to focus the organization more tightly on its highest-priority initiatives. He identified TWIN as the most important of those efforts, describing it as IOTA’s work to convert cross-border trade infrastructure into a business that can generate revenue and support the foundation’s long-term mission.
“The purpose of this change is to align our organization more tightly around our highest-priority initiatives and to give us the focus and runway to execute on the opportunities ahead,” Schiener wrote. “Most important among them is TWIN – our work to turn our cross-border trade infrastructure into a growing, revenue-generating business that can support IOTA and the Foundation’s mission for the long term. Our broader focus remains unchanged: advancing digital public infrastructure, trusted trade, and real-world adoption.”
Schiener also framed the cuts as a difficult but necessary step for the project’s durability. “If there is one word that defines IOTA, it is perseverance,” he wrote. “We have lived through every market cycle, won many battles and lost others, and have always pushed forward. We have succeeded through all these markets because we genuinely care about each other and about the mission we’re on.”
The foundation’s statement signals a shift toward tighter operational discipline and a sharper focus on initiatives with potential commercial traction. While Schiener did not provide details on the scale of the layoffs or the foundation’s runway, he said the changes are intended to leave IOTA “more focused, more resilient, and built to last.”
AI Transparency Note: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system based on the sources listed and was reviewed, edited, and approved by a human editor before publication. All quotes, data points, and factual claims are intended to be grounded in the cited source material; however, errors cannot be ruled out entirely.
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