Dune cuts 25% of staff to focus on AI and on-chain data

Dune laid off 25% of its workforce this week. CEO Fredrik Haga framed the reductions as a restructuring to focus the company on AI-powered tools and institutional on-chain data, with Dune MCP as the central product.

Founded in 2018, Dune built its reputation with SQL-based dashboards that let analysts and developers query blockchain data. The company has developed a full data stack covering ingestion, quality checks, storage, cleaning, normalization and querying.

Haga wrote the cuts will sharpen focus on core data products used by thousands of customers across the crypto industry.

He outlined two priorities: adding artificial intelligence to the product set and serving institutional clients that are moving assets on-chain. Haga described Dune MCP as a tool that lets teams and AI agents build dashboards and workflows without SQL knowledge or running data infrastructure.

Haga wrote, “We’re the only player who has done the hard work of building the end-to-end stack for crypto data. With Dune MCP, teams and agents can now build dashboards and workflows without needing to know anything about SQL nor data infrastructure.”

The company plans to sell Dune MCP and related services to financial institutions as currencies, stocks and commodities settle on blockchain rails. Haga noted Dune is investing in its data layer and client services and remains well capitalized. He added that departing employees are “exceptional people” he would recommend to other teams.

The layoffs follow cuts at other crypto and fintech firms. Block cut about 40% of staff, roughly 4,000 roles, in February 2026, citing AI-driven efficiency gains. Crypto.com reduced headcount by about 12% in March 2026, or roughly 180 employees, citing enterprise AI integration. Critics questioned whether AI was the primary driver in those cases.

Responses to Dune’s announcement were largely sympathetic within the crypto community; some users offered job leads while a smaller group expressed concern about AI displacing workers.

Dune has operated through multiple market cycles and outlasted competitors that shut down or scaled back. Haga did not give a timeline for rebuilding headcount but wrote the smaller team would move faster on the stated priorities. He closed his public statement with the company motto: “The Data Must Flow.”