Sandeep Nailwal Appointed as First CEO of Polygon Foundation, Refocusing on AggLayer and Future Scalability
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has officially taken the reins as the first-ever CEO of the Polygon Foundation, signaling a strategic shift away from its earlier decentralized governance structure. This move marks a significant evolution in the management of the Polygon ecosystem, as the foundation looks to streamline decision-making and accelerate progress in the increasingly competitive layer-2 blockchain space.
The Polygon Foundation, which provides oversight for Polygon Labs and other integral components of the network, will now operate under Nailwal’s leadership. According to an official announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the foundation aims to reposition itself for rapid innovation and execution.
“In our early days, Polygon was all about bold execution and ambitious targets. Between 2021 and 2023, we worked to institutionalize our vision, welcoming several brilliant co-founders, forming a board, and dedicating ourselves to intense tech research and development,” Nailwal said.
“Now, the time has come to act decisively, move swiftly, and stay fully focused,” he added.
This leadership transition comes at a time when Polygon is facing industry headwinds. Its native token, POL, has lost over 80% of its value from all-time highs, as reported by CoinMarketCap. However, Nailwal’s return to the driver’s seat suggests a renewed push to regain momentum and strengthen Polygon’s technical edge.
AggLayer to Become a Central Focus
One of the first major initiatives under Nailwal’s direction is a renewed emphasis on Polygon AggLayer, an interoperability protocol designed to connect fragmented chains within the ecosystem. The upcoming AggLayer v0.3, expected to launch by the end of the year, will be more closely integrated with the Polygon brand as part of a broader consolidation strategy.
In a related move, the zkEVM chain will be phased out by 2026, due to ongoing performance limitations and developer challenges. The foundation acknowledged that the zkEVM’s scaling inefficiencies had hindered adoption and growth.
Meanwhile, the Polygon PoS (Proof-of-Stake) chain is undergoing a major transformation into what the team describes as a “GigaGAS” chain, capable of processing 100,000+ transactions per second. The objective is to enable real-time, low-cost transactions at scale, and to support the secure transfer of trillions of tokenized assets.
Bhilai Upgrade and Strategic Partnerships
In July, Polygon will launch its much-anticipated Bhilai upgrade, designed to improve finality speed, reduce gas fees, and integrate the network more deeply with AggLayer. This upgrade is part of a broader effort to cement Polygon’s role in the future of blockchain-based payments.
Polygon’s enterprise partnerships continue to reflect strong market interest, with key collaborators including JPMorgan and Stripe. These alliances aim to support scalable blockchain solutions for real-world finance and commerce.
Co-Founder Departures Continue
Nailwal’s new role follows a string of notable departures from Polygon’s founding team. On May 24, co-founder Mihailo Bjelic officially stepped down from the foundation board and ended his day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs.
“After deep reflection, I’ve decided to step away from my active role in Polygon,” Bjelic stated at the time.
Earlier exits included fellow co-founders Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun, both of whom left over the past two years. These transitions underscore a broader generational change within Polygon’s leadership structure as the project gears up for its next phase of development.
