TL;DR:
- Dune has executed a 25% cut of its workforce, maintaining solvency after capturing 79 million dollars in previous funding rounds.
- The platform has launched Dune MCP, an open-standard server that allows AI agents to perform on-chain data queries using natural language.
- Surf, a sector competitor, announced a $15 million raise in December 2025 to develop data infrastructure exclusive to autonomous agents.
Dune, the data analysis platform, will lay off 25% of its employees as part of its restructuring. The goal of this decision is to align the company’s operations with the advancement of AI and the increasing demand for institutional financial services.
The firm’s co-founder, Fredrik Haga, reported that the organization has a solid capital position following the $69.4 million Series B completed in 2022. The executive added that Dune will retain its full data infrastructure, although it will dispense with high-performance profiles to optimize the current cost structure.
We’re restructuring Dune to sharpen our focus around the core data products thousands of customers across the crypto industry rely on. That unfortunately means we’ve let 25% of the team go this week. These are exceptional people I can wholeheartedly recommend — ping me if you’re…
— hagaetc (@hagaetc) May 14, 2026
The transition toward an AI-centered model is supported by the launch of Dune MCP in March 2026. This tool functions as an open-standard server designed specifically so that AI agents can interact with the platform’s data warehouse.
Transformation toward institutional analysis and AI agents
As part of the company’s strategy, they have included the expansion of “white glove” services aimed at traditional financial institutions. The firm’s report indicates that the objective is to facilitate the tokenization of conventional assets such as stocks, bonds, and commodities through simplified access to on-chain data.
Currently, the Dune ecosystem covers more than 100 blockchains and offers tools for query execution and metrics visualization. The recent integration of a dbt connector allows technical teams to build data pipelines directly on its infrastructure.
However, competition in the crypto data sector increased following criticism from Ryan Li, co-founder of Surf. Li maintains that the traditional model of human-operated dashboards is being surpassed by the need for infrastructures built for intelligent agents that require structured data outputs and fast query engines.
Market data confirms that, at the close of Q4 2025, Surf raised $15 million, with support from funds such as Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures. Surf suggests that its data stack was designed from the first quarter of 2026 with an exclusive focus on the automation of research processes.
For its part, Dune’s management projects that its tech stack will continue to be the foundation for major cryptocurrency companies, despite the staff reduction. Haga expressed his commitment to actively recommending affected workers to other firms in the sector to mitigate the impact of the restructuring.
The industry is now watching a technical race to dominate AI-based research workflows. While Dune adapts an already established platform, new competitors are betting on native systems for agents, which could redefine how market data is consumed in the short term.
