Polygon’s Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal Assumes Sole Leadership
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is spearheading a significant governance shift, backing singular leadership as crucial for the Ethereum scaling network’s future trajectory.
Shift to Sole Authority
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Nailwal stated he assumed the CEO role of the Polygon Foundation (effective June 11) to consolidate decision-making and accelerate execution.
Nailwal justified the move away from board governance as a strategic response to operational inefficiencies slowing down the network’s development:
“Things were definitely taking a lot of time. Decisions that should’ve been made in two weeks were sometimes taking two months.”
Strategic Focus
Under Nailwal’s single-handed leadership, Polygon will sunset its zkEVM chain and refocus efforts on Polygon PoS and stablecoin payments, utilizing the AggLayer to pursue the “internet of blockchains.”
Nailwal’s “Servitude Mentality”
When comparing his current setup to Vitalik Buterin’s proposal for Bitcoin’s layer-2 scaling solution, for which Buterin declared sole directorship, Nailwal commented:
“It’s exactly the same, except I said that I am the director.”
He explained that while Polygon initially gravitated towards mirroring structures of traditional companies (including a board) after its rise, streamlined execution is now prioritised:
“It has become clear that the institutionalized approach was not effective. That’s what happened with the zkEVM chain, which took two to three years to launch and then failed round two.”
Leadership Evolution
Nailwal attributes his “servitude mentality” – focusing on keeping everyone happy by ensuring token holders are content – to his upbringing. He credits this approach with Polygon’s early community engagement but notes its limitations in scaling
“I think that history gave me this ingrained tendency to keep everyone happy. … When someone’s happy, you get a dopamine hit”
He conceded that this approach cannot endure the harsh realities of scaling:
“With retail, if the token’s up, they’re happy. If it’s not, they’re angry. It took me two or three rounds of that cycle to realize I can’t pour all my energy into it.”
The Declining zkEVM Chain
Polygon’s zkEVM chain, formerly known as Hermez Network (acquired 2021), is slated for sunset by 2026.
Although touted as a “ETH equivalence network” with significant research backing upon launch, zkEVM ultimately underperformed:
Assets locked on zkEVM have dropped from over $35 million in July 2023 to just $2.75 million, and have generated minimal revenue while operating at a reported loss.
Source: DefiLlama
Focus on Polygon PoS & AggLayer
Polygon’s current PoS chain remains robust, with over $1 billion in total value locked and ranking among the top chains for NFT transactions, featuring significant USDC and USDT reserves.
Nailwal expressed confidence in the future of NFTs beyond pure speculation:
NFT technology will absolutely be used in tokenization and in wider RWA applications. Polygon’s focus on actual NFTs – not the speculative, fake ones – has paid off.
RWA & Stablecoin Future
With institutional interest in real-world assets (RWAs) growing – exemplified recently by the US Senate-passed GENIUS stablecoin bill and BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund inclusion – Polygon is well-positioned.
Nailwal believes:
The crypto industry is evolving – away from valuing purely theoretical research towards rewarding real-world traction and revenue. That has started more than before.
Challenges Ahead: 100,000 TPS Goal
Polygon, having recently adopted a structure reminiscent of venture-backed startups after raising $450 million (including backing from Sequoia Capital, SoftBank and Tiger Global), is now returning to its bootstrapped origins.
With zkEVM in decline and the industry maturing, the singular leadership gamble faces scrutiny as Polygon focuses on its “Gigagas” roadmap:
The network aims for a major scalability upgrade hitting 100,000 transactions per second or higher.
Source: Polygon
For Nailwal, the final test is execution:
We need to get back to actual product building. Your product has to be good, and people should be willing to pay for it. … That will make some people, both in our community and outside, unhappy. But we don’t have any other choice.
The overdue choice is between the perceived safety of groupthink and often slow approval cycles, with the founder’s direct control reducing friction and potentially enabling a decisive leap forward.
