Dune Analytics CEO Fredrik Haga announced on May 14 a 25% workforce reduction as part of a restructuring to focus on AI agents and institutional adoption of onchain finance. The company, which has raised $79.4 million in funding, will retain its end-to-end data stack while pivoting toward products like Dune MCP—an open-standard server enabling AI agents to query data via natural language across 100+ chains—and a dbt Connector for onchain data pipelines. Haga stated Dune already serves most leading crypto firms and is expanding white-glove services to financial institutions tokenizing assets. The move drew a sharp response from Surf cofounder Ryan Li, who argued that crypto research now requires infrastructure built for AI agents rather than human-operated dashboards, positioning Surf as a purpose-built alternative. Surf raised $15 million in December 2025 from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and DCG, signaling an escalation in the crypto data race as platforms compete for AI research workflows.

Key facts

• Dune Analytics lays off 25% of staff to refocus on AI agents and institutional clients.
• The restructuring preserves Dune's data stack while emphasizing Dune MCP and dbt Connector.
• Dune has raised $79.4 million and remains well-capitalized, per CEO Fredrik Haga.
• Surf cofounder Ryan Li criticizes dashboard-era tools, positioning Surf as AI-native alternative.
• Surf raised $15M in Dec 2025 from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and DCG.

KeyAudit data perspective