Sandeep Nailwal Becomes Polygon Foundation CEO, Declares Zero-to-One Reboot

• Sandeep Nailwal takes full control as CEO, pushing for faster decisions and leaner structure.
• Polygon drops zkEVM, shifts all focus to PoS scaling and Agglayer interoperability rollout.

Sandeep Nailwal announced on June 11 via X that he has taken over as CEO of Polygon Foundation, signaling a major internal shift. As the biggest holder of POL tokens and co-founder of Polygon, Nailwal declared full leadership over the Foundation. He cited the need for “clear direction and focused execution” as the reason behind stepping into a role he had avoided for years.

Polygon Foundation oversees several parts of the ecosystem, including Polygon Labs. That unit will continue under Marc Boiron, whom Nailwal described as “the best executive/leader in the entire crypto industry.” Nailwal explained that his earlier reluctance to take on the CEO title came from trying to build Polygon Foundation with strong institutional governance. But, with Polygon back at a foundational stage, he believes faster, sharper decisions are required.

In the financial aspect, Nailwal confirmed the Foundation holds several hundred million dollars in cash and remains well-resourced to continue long-term development without needing new funding. He also shared a list of major strategic decisions aimed at strengthening POL and improving market clarity.

Polygon shuts down zkEVM — shifts focus to PoS and Agglayer

A crucial announcement was the decision to shut down the Polygon zkEVM project by next year. Instead, focus will center on Polygon PoS and Agglayer. Polygon PoS will specialize in stablecoin payments and real-world assets, while Agglayer targets a “trustless Internet of Blockchains.”

Progress on the PoS side includes the launch of the first part of the “Gigagas” roadmap, now in testnet. With the new upgrade, transaction speeds exceed 1,000 TPS, with a roadmap leading to over 5,000 TPS and sub-one-second finality by September or October. Long-term, the goal is to cross 100,000 TPS over the next few years.

On the Agglayer front, version 0.3 will go live during the week of June 30. The build is complete except for fast interoperability features, expected by the end of Q3. The “Agglayer Breakout” initiative also continues, bringing new projects and large airdrops for POL stakers.

Ethereum’s instability resets Polygon’s growth plans

The aggressive rebuild follows internal efforts in 2021–22 to institutionalize Polygon by bringing in co-founders and board structures to support expansion. Nailwal admitted that Ethereum’s instability during that period forced Polygon back into an earlier growth phase. What was meant to be scaling from stage 10 to 100 has, in his view, turned into a reset from zero.

To adapt, the structure of the Foundation is changing. Institutional setups, he said, work well for consistent decisions, but not the kind of bold and fast changes Polygon now needs. With a more user-focused crypto environment, he stressed that Polygon must adapt away from its earlier research-focused approach.

ZK (zero-knowledge) research is being spun out into standalone projects, the next one being “Polygon ZisK” led by Jordi Baylina. Nailwal confirmed Polygon will continue contributing to ZK efforts but in a more neutral manner, outside its core product scope.