Polygon Co-Founder Takes the Lead, Announces New Priorities
Date: 2025-06-11 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: BUSINESS
Nailwal had previously eschewed the CEO role, focusing on building institutional governance at the Polygon Foundation. However, he now notes the need for a clearer strategy and active execution to further develop the platform. Despite this, the Polygon Foundation will continue to manage the project’s divisions, such as Polygon Labs, with their current leadership intact.
According to Nailwal, the second-layer platform, with a treasury valued at several hundred million dollars, is in a strong position to navigate the challenging period that has affected the entire Ethereum ecosystem. To support the value of the POL token and provide clarity on the development prospects, key initiatives were announced:
- Next year, the project intends to close the Polygon zkEVM network and focus on the development of Polygon PoS, focused on stablecoin payments and the RWA segment, as well as the AggLayer protocol, which will facilitate the creation of the Internet of blockchains.
- The mainnet is planning to launch a new version of Polygon PoS called Gigagas, which has already shown more than 5,000 transactions per second (TPS) in tests. By autumn, the network should become one of the fastest blockchains with the potential to scale up to 100,000 TPS in the next few years.
- AggLayer v0.3 is expected by June 30, with full functionality of the protocol achieved by the end of Q3. The protocol is returning to an active development phase.
- Support for projects within the AggLayer Breakout program with airdrops for POL stakers will continue.
- The circle of market makers for the formation of token trading platforms will expand, which is facilitated by the closure of the SEC investigation into the MATIC proposal in the past.
Nailwal described the current situation as an "existential crisis" for Ethereum, which has effectively returned Polygon to the startup stage. In his opinion, what is needed now is speed of decision-making, risk appetite, and the ability to cope with failures. He also emphasized that the crypto industry has shifted from a research focus to an end-user orientation, which requires changes from Polygon as well.
The co-founder noted that traditional governance methods such as boards of directors and committees are more suitable for stable conditions, but are ineffective for implementing bold and large-scale decisions in the context of rapid development.
Recall that in December 2024, the largest liquid staking protocol Lido stopped supporting Polygon PoS, which also affected the current dynamics of the project's development.
