Polygon Co-Founder Criticizes Ethereum’s Leadership and Community

Nailwal promised a "final push" that could reboot the L2 agenda.

Co-founder of Polygon, Sandeep Nailwal, has criticized the leadership of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, stating that its community has “turned into a circus.” 

Read this from Peter and realized that it’s time for me to also speak up.

NGL, I’ve started questioning my loyalty toward Ethereum. I did not come into crypto because of Bitcoin but because of Ethereum. I also have a lot of gratitude toward @VitalikButerin — someone I looked up… https://t.co/yrcrGEwXs8

— Sandeep | CEO, Polygon Foundation (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) October 20, 2025

“Honestly, I’ve started questioning my loyalty to Ethereum,” he admitted. 

Nailwal added that this loyalty has cost Polygon billions of dollars due to its refusal to position itself as a first-layer blockchain. According to him, if it had gained independence, the network’s market value could have increased several times over. 

Despite its key contributions to the ecosystem, the Ethereum community refuses to recognize Polygon as a full-fledged L2 solution and include it in its “investment narrative.” Nailwal claims this creates a paradox: the successes of the Polygon-based platform Polymarket are attributed to Ethereum, while Polygon itself remains in the shadows.

“However, I am stubborn and unyielding. I will make one last push that might reboot the entire L2 agenda. Just bear with me for a few more weeks,” he stated. 

The expert emphasized that “the Ethereum community should reflect,” referring to a post by key developer Péter Szilágyi. Earlier, Szilágyi also criticized the project, pointing to the centralization of power around Vitalik Buterin. 

What is the community saying? 

Many leaders in the crypto industry have supported Nailwal. Bankless co-founder Ryan Adams wrote: 

“Polygon is a fantastic project that has done a lot for Ethereum. I would, of course, like its PoS chain to eventually become a rollup, but even if that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t negate the fact that Polygon has greatly benefited the ecosystem.” 

Solana co-founder Raj Gokal suggested that Nailwal join forces with Solana. A similar opinion was expressed by former Solana Foundation strategy head Austin Federa. 

Clamp crypto index project creator Abhishek Yadav noted that Polygon needs to clearly define its strategic position and focus on developing as an independent first-layer blockchain.

“Polygon’s success is considered Ethereum’s success, but the platform itself does not receive the recognition it deserves. This project did the main work of attracting developers and users to the EVM ecosystem after the pandemic, but it has never been properly appreciated,” he added. 

The issue of opaque support distribution from the EF was echoed by the founder of several DeFi projects, Andre Cronje. He emphasized that during the creation of Sonic (formerly Fantom) on Ethereum, he received no grants or even minimal feedback from the foundation. 

“I was surprised. Most teams receive direct support, help with TVL and audits. I thought that’s how it worked everywhere. But if support isn’t going to key developers and the most active L2 supporters like Polygon, then where are the resources going?” the expert commented. 

Buterin also responded to Nailwal’s remarks. The Ethereum co-founder acknowledged Polygon’s achievements, highlighting Polymarket as the largest prediction market platform and successes in developing zk-EVM technologies.

I really appreciate both @sandeepnailwal‘s personal contributions and @0xPolygon‘s immensely valuable role in the ethereum ecosystem.

To recap:

* Polygon hosts @Polymarket, which is probably the single most successful example of a “not just boring finance” app that has actually…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 21, 2025

Buterin separately emphasized Nailwal’s personal integrity. Nailwal voluntarily returned $190 million of donated SHIB tokens to him and participated in the development of the CryptoRelief initiative, which funds biomedical infrastructure and scientific research in India.

“Personally, I hope that in the near future Polygon can simply take ready-made ZK solutions, which have now become quite advanced, and apply them to its PoS chain to gain full first and subsequently second-layer guarantees from Ethereum,” he concluded. 

The debates have unfolded against the backdrop of key technical specialists leaving the Ethereum Foundation. In January, Eric Conner left the project, citing issues with EF leadership. In October, Dankrad Feist announced his move to Tempo.

Developer Federico Carrone stated that the growing influence of venture funds like Paradigm poses a serious threat to the ecosystem of the second-largest cryptocurrency.