This week I was laid off from Token Terminal.
Even writing that sentence feels surreal.
Like a lot of people in crypto and tech, I knew the market had been shifting. Teams were getting leaner, priorities were tightening, and timelines that used to be measured in quarters were suddenly measured in weeks. Still, no amount of rational preparation fully removes the emotional shock when it becomes your reality.
The hard part is not just losing a job. It is losing the rhythm attached to it. The teammates you message every day. The product context you have built over months. The momentum you were carrying. When that stops abruptly, there is a strange silence you have to learn to sit with.
After the first wave of emotion, what stood out to me most is that this is not a story about one company. It is a story about an entire industry moving fast enough to make almost everyone feel unstable at some point.
We are all feeling some version of the same pressure:
- Teams are expected to do more with fewer people.
- AI is reshaping workflows faster than org charts can adapt.
- Capital is more selective, so experiments are shorter and scrutiny is higher.
- The bar for individual leverage keeps rising.
None of this means people are failing. It means the environment changed.
That distinction matters. In fast-moving industries, layoffs are often interpreted as personal verdicts when they are frequently structural decisions. You can be doing strong work and still get caught in a change you did not create.
Right now, I am focusing on a few things I can control:
- Keep a steady routine so uncertainty does not take over my days.
- Share my work publicly and consistently.
- Reach out directly to people I respect instead of waiting passively.
- Keep building, even if it starts small.
I am not writing this for sympathy. I am writing it because a lot of smart, capable people are quietly carrying the same weight, and most of us pretend we are unaffected.
If you are in that spot too, you are not behind. You are in the middle of a transition that is bigger than any one role.
I am grateful for the time I had at Token Terminal and for everyone I worked with there. I am also clear-eyed about what comes next: adapt quickly, stay useful, and keep showing up.
The industry is not slowing down. So I am choosing not to freeze with it.
