Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has officially assumed the role of CEO at the Polygon Foundation, becoming its first-ever chief executive. The move signals a strategic pivot away from the decentralized governance model the organization had previously promoted.
The foundation—which oversees Polygon Labs and other key components of the ecosystem—will now operate under Nailwal’s direct leadership as the project aims to sharpen its focus amid growing competition in the layer-2 blockchain space, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
“In the early days, Polygon was driven by bold execution and ambitious goals,” Nailwal said. “Between 2021 and 2023, we worked to institutionalize the project by bringing in exceptional co-founders, forming a board, and diving deep into technical research and innovation.”
“But now, it’s time to move fast again—with conviction, urgency, and focus,” he added.
Nailwal’s appointment comes at a challenging time for Polygon, as its native POL token remains down more than 80% from its all-time high, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
Polygon Foundation Shifts Focus to AggLayer Under New Leadership
One of the key priorities under the Polygon Foundation’s new leadership is a renewed focus on AggLayer, the interoperability protocol designed to connect fragmented blockchains into a unified network. AggLayer v0.3 is slated for release by the end of the year, with plans to more closely integrate the protocol under the Polygon brand.
In parallel, the foundation has announced plans to phase out the zkEVM chain by 2026, citing persistent performance and development challenges that have hindered scalability for builders.
Meanwhile, the Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS) chain is undergoing a major transformation into what the foundation calls a “GigaGAS” chain, aiming to support over 100,000 transactions per second. The upgrade is part of a broader vision to power real-time payments and secure trillions of tokenized assets across the network.
Polygon is also doubling down on its payments strategy with the upcoming Bhilai upgrade, scheduled for July. The update is expected to deliver faster transaction finality, reduced gas fees, and seamless integration with AggLayer. Current partners in the ecosystem include major players such as JPMorgan and Stripe.
Polygon Grapples with Co-Founder Exodus Amid Strategic Overhaul
On May 24, Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic announced his departure from the project. “After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs,” he said at the time.
His exit follows the earlier departures of fellow co-founders Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun, both of whom stepped away from Polygon Labs over the past two years.
