Sandeep Nailual of Polygon takes as CEO of Foundation in the middle of strategic shakeup
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal officially assumed the CEO of the Polygon Foundation CEO, marked a pivot in the leadership of the organization and an overhaul of the network’s longterm roadmap.
Nailwal, who launched the project in 2017 when it was called the Matic Network, combined the team’s control and reorganization to Agglayer-the new Polygon cross-chain protocol that promises seamless interoperability on networks.
“This modified control marks the beginning of a strategic push for the polygon to regain its position before the web3,” the team wrote in a press release shared with CoinDesk
As chief executive, the nailual will operate long-term planning, guide major ecosystem initiatives, and ensure that the foundation-overseeing polygon labs and other affiliates that deliver “exponential growth, increased focus and greater value to POL stakers,” according to the foundation.
In its early days, the proof-stake sidechain of Polygon sells itself as a low cost, rapid alternative to Ethereum, which provides users access to decentralized apps without the burden of high gas fees. It quickly increased in popularity as a go-to Ethereum scaling solution.
But the activity was from cooled. The total amount locked (TVL) throughout the polygon networks fell to around $ 1 billion, down by nearly 90% from June 2021 peak of $ 9.79 billion, For Defillama.
The Polygon has a Ceded Ground on a new wave of the Ethereum scaling network-especially the “layer-2 rollups” such as optimism and arbitrum-which offers similar user experiences but has lighter compatibility with the Ethereum and more sophisticated security systems. Polygon’s own rollup, ZKEVM, is only on TVL’s 27th in layer-2s, According to L2BeatIt’s great to ride behind its newer competitors.
Today, the ZKEVM experiment has been phased out. Polygon said it would sink ZKEVM Mainnet Beta in 2026, citing developer disputes, architectural limits, and lazy adoption. “To ensure a proper move, the next one will remain live over the next twelve months,” the team said.
The decision also has a major staff shift: Jordi Baylina, Polygon’s zero-knowledge research lead, will leave to spin his own project, Zisk.
As part of its strategic reset, Polygon doubled down this flagship, which now targets real-world financial assets (RWW). The foundation teases an “ambitious roadmap” with milestones to transform the chain into a “Giggas” network capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second and securing trillions to tokenized ownership.
Polygon repair mirrors are changing the Ethereum Foundation, which has recently reinstated its leadership and revamps its roadmap in a process led by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Baterin.
In an X post, Nailwal said Nailwal’s “existing crisis” prompted Polygon to revisit its basic identity-back to a more courageous, more agile, and more decisive “zero-to-one” thought.
His stated goal: “To deliver greater value to POL stakers and bring an increase in clarity to the wider market.” Pol, called Matic, is a polygon token. The owner can be “staked” on the POS network to help to secure it in exchange for rewards.
Revamp’s timing, Nailwal suggested, could work in Pol’s favor.
“The SEC has lowered the investigations and suits related to Matic as a security, which should not have been given the nature of Matic (and now POL),” he wrote. “We are excited to see many large market manufacturers return to the table in recent days to make POL markets that strengthen POL’s liquidity in exchanges around the world.”
Read more: Polygon, Release of GSR Katana Network Tackle Defi Fragmentation
