If the alternative is being laid off, this is a decent approach imo. A lot of people probably are feeling burned out or ready to leave. The severance is probably going to be generous, probably a years salary and some stock. If you were on the fence, it would probably be tempting. Plus then only the people interested in leaving anyway leave, those passionate stay.

The intellect and skills of these workers would be very useful in the GrapheneOS development team

So they can ax the projects and then blame it on staffing?