Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has taken the helm as the first-ever CEO of the Polygon Foundation, marking a strategic pivot for the Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution amid intensifying competition. The announcement, made today, underscores Polygon’s intent to streamline operations and refocus on its core innovation, the AggLayer, to reclaim its edge in the blockchain space.
Nailwal, one of the original founders of Polygon (formerly Matic Network) alongside Jaynti Kanani, Mihailo Bjelic, and Anurag Arjun, steps into the CEO role to drive faster decision-making and execution.
“At our beginnings, Polygon was all about bold execution and big goals,” Nailwal said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph. “During 2021–23, we made a real effort to institutionalise the project, but we’ve lost some momentum. It’s time to return to a ‘zero to one’ mentality.”
The leadership transition comes at a critical juncture for Polygon, which has faced challenges including a declining total value locked (TVL) of approximately $1 billion, less than half of rival Arbitrum’s, and a native POL token down 65% over the past year. To address these, Nailwal plans to double down on AggLayer, Polygon’s interoperability layer designed to connect multiple blockchains, while shutting down or spinning off non-core projects, including the zkEVM network, which will cease operations in 2026 due to low adoption.
Nailwal’s appointment ends the foundation’s consensus-led governance model, granting him full executive control to steer Polygon’s long-term strategy. He told Bloomberg that the need for agility in the fast-evolving blockchain sector drove the move. The foundation also confirmed that co-founder Jordi Baylina will depart to launch ZisK, a new zero-knowledge project spun out from Polygon.
Polygon, valued at $20 billion in 2022, has been a powerhouse in Ethereum scaling, processing over 3 million daily transactions and supporting thousands of decentralized applications (dApps). Under Nailwal’s leadership, the foundation aims to bolster AggLayer’s expansion, targeting 100,000 transactions per second and deeper integration with digital payments and real-world assets.
As the last remaining member of Polygon’s original founding team following Bjelic’s exit in May 2025, Nailwal’s new role signals a return to the project’s entrepreneurial roots.
