Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is charting a brand new course for the community, backing a singular management mannequin as important to its future.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Nailwal mentioned the shift away from board-led governance isn’t only a structural change however a strategic response to inefficiencies which have slowed Polygon’s momentum.
On June 11, he introduced he would take over as CEO of the Polygon Basis, describing the choice as essential to deliver “clear course and centered execution” to the mission’s subsequent chapter.
Now underneath his sole management, the Ethereum scaling mission will sundown its zkEVM chain and deal with real-world property (RWAs) and stablecoin funds by means of Polygon PoS whereas utilizing its AggLayer to pursue its dream of constructing the web of blockchains.
Nailwal on the “servitude mentality” driving Polygon
In January, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stirred debate by declaring sole authority over selections concerning the Ethereum Basis’s management.
“It’s precisely the identical, besides I mentioned that I’m the director,” Nailwal instructed Cointelegraph, referring to his personal function.
After Polygon’s rise in 2021 and 2022, the mission sought to “institutionalize” by mirroring the constructions of huge firms. The Polygon Basis was overseen by a board — a mannequin that has now been dissolved, leaving Nailwal as the only real decision-maker.
“Issues have been undoubtedly taking quite a lot of time. Selections that ought to’ve been made in two weeks have been typically taking two months,” he mentioned.
Nailwal mentioned streamlining decision-making doesn’t imply abandoning empathy. He nonetheless has what he calls a “servitude mentality,” a management type formed by his upbringing. Each of his grandfathers have been servants in a rich family, the place they met and organized the wedding of his dad and mom.
“I feel that historical past gave me this ingrained tendency to maintain everybody comfortable, and I nonetheless really feel that means. When somebody’s comfortable, you get a dopamine hit — each human does — however in my case, it’s deeper.”
He credit this intuition with serving to construct Polygon’s early group. Nailwal was one of many few founders of a top-tier protocol who personally engaged with retail customers, typically replying to messages on Telegram himself. Solely lately has he put up guardrails on his private accounts.
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“With retail, if the token’s up, they’re comfortable. If it’s not, they’re indignant,” he mentioned. “It took me two or three rounds of that cycle to understand I can’t pour all my power into it.”
Based on Nailwal, the crypto trade is evolving, too — transferring away from valuing theoretical analysis, like early zero-knowledge proof growth, and towards rewarding real-world traction and income.
“All people thought that finally will occur, however I feel lately it has began taking place greater than earlier than,” he mentioned
Polygon’s zkEVM sundown and RWA drive
Following Nailwal’s announcement, questions have surfaced in regards to the well being of zkEVM, which is about to be phased out by 2026. As soon as often called Hermez Community and bought in 2021 for 250 million MATIC (POL) (now POL and price about $250 million on the time), zkEVM was Polygon’s bid for Ethereum equivalence.
“It launched with quite a lot of fanfare as a result of all of the analysis; folks have been like, ‘That is stunning.’ Vitalik [Buterin] and all people mentioned that that is superb,” Nailwal claimed.
“However when the end-users got here to make use of it, it fell in need of expectations by way of the expertise. We didn’t incentivize quite a lot of person development in zkEVM for the longest time,” he added.
Belongings locked on zkEVM have dropped from over $35 million in July 2023 to only $2.75 million. The chain has struggled to generate charges and has reportedly operated at a loss, in response to DefiLlama knowledge.
With zkEVM fading, Polygon’s consideration turns to its PoS chain and AggLayer infrastructure. PoS nonetheless hosts over $1 billion in complete worth locked, ranks among the many prime chains for non-fungible token (NFT) transactions and is house to roughly $1 billion every in USDC (USDC) and Tether’s USDt (USDT).
Although the NFT market has collapsed, Nailwal mentioned significant NFTs will proceed to endure. He in contrast speculative NFTs to memecoins, saying the “hype section” has handed, clearing house for higher-quality initiatives. He added that the underlying NFT know-how stays a key participant for tokenizing property, which might both be fungible or non-fungible.
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“NFT know-how will completely be utilized in tokenization and in broader RWA purposes,” he mentioned.
“Our deal with precise NFTs — not the speculative, faux ones — has paid off. It’s now very clear that stablecoin funds and tokenization are going to be the 2 massive use circumstances.”
Polygon’s guess on these two blockchain use circumstances aligns with international tendencies. The US Senate handed the GENIUS stablecoin invoice on June 17 as international discussions on regulation intensify. In the meantime, RWAs are drawing institutional curiosity, together with from BlackRock, which runs its tokenized cash market fund throughout a number of chains, together with Polygon.
Polygon’s highway to 100,000 TPS
Polygon tried to suit into the institutional development by forming a board after elevating $450 million in a 2022 funding spherical that included Sequoia Capital, SoftBank and Tiger World.
However it’s now again to the zero-to-one startup section. Nailwal dismantled the board in pursuit of streamlined execution. However with zkEVM on its means out and the trade’s consideration shifting quick, the burden of proof now rests squarely on whether or not singular management can ship real-world outcomes.
“We have to get again to precise product constructing. Your product must be good, and other people must be keen to pay for it,” Nailwal mentioned.
For him, that additionally means his evolution as a frontrunner — from retaining everybody comfortable to searching for Polygon’s finest pursuits.
“That can make some folks, each in our group and outdoors, sad. However we don’t have some other selection,” he added.
Nailwal and Polygon are betting all of it on its “Gigagas” roadmap, which goals to scale its community to 100,000 transactions per second. That matches fashionable rivals which might be scaling their networks or launching sooner blockchains.
To date, the group response to Nailwal claiming sole management of Polygon has been blended. Some reward his wartime CEO stance, whereas others level to the pricey zkEVM detour.
Nonetheless, Nailwal believes {that a} sooner decision-making course of is what the second calls for: “Life gave me an opportunity to play on the international stage. I’ve to be that 25-year-old child once more who was able to go all in.”
Whether or not that guess on himself pays off will seemingly turn into clear by the top of the yr, because the community races to hit its TPS milestone and show its relevance in a maturing crypto ecosystem.
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