Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has criticized Ethereum’s leaders for dismissing Polygon’s status as a true Ethereum layer 2 — noting contributions that Polygon has made to Ethereum while receiving little recognition for those efforts.
Nailwal, who also serves as the Polygon Foundation’s CEO, said he is now “questioning his loyalty” to Ethereum — particularly the Ethereum Foundation and the community, which, according to him, hasn’t given Polygon any direct support.
“In fact, the reverse,” Nailwal said in a post to X on Monday, adding that he has given his loyalty to Ethereum even though it has potentially cost him billions of dollars in Polygon’s valuation not to brand itself as a layer 1.
“The Ethereum community as a whole has been a shit show for quite some time,” Nailwal said before suggesting that the “Ethereum community needs to take a hard look at itself.”
His post later prompted a response from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who made a point to acknowledge Polygon’s achievements in the broader Ethereum community.
Nailwal isn’t the only industry leader who has handed out heavy criticism to the EF, which has undergone a major leadership overhaul over the last 12 months.
Nailwal cited a post from a former EF researcher Péter Szilágyi who shared an 18 month-old letter expressing his frustration with his old workplace, while Eric Conner, one of Ethereum’s earliest developers, left in January, citing concerns with Buterin’s leadership decisions.
He received some support, including from Solana co-founder Raj Gokal and former Solana Foudnation head of strategy Austin Federa, who both suggested that Polygon “team up” with Solana or become a layer 2 on the Ethereum-rival network.
Vitalik Buterin praises Polygon, Nailwal
In response to Nailwal’s post, Buterin acknowledged Polygon’s contributions to Ethereum, noting that it hosts the largest predictions market platform in Polymarket and has advanced zk-EVM technology, among other things.
Buterin also praised Nailwal’s personal efforts with CryptoRelief, which has funded biomedical infrastructure and research in India.
Polygon still isn’t an Ethereum layer 2 in Vitalik’s book
Buterin did, however, note that Polygon lacks a proof system to get the full security guarantees that Ethereum layer 2s are meant to provide in response to Nailwal’s claim that Polygon isn’t treated as such.
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He pointed out that Polygon could easily “pick up off the shelf a ZK tech stack” that will enable a proof system, adding that the technology has “gotten quite good” with proving costs now as cheap as $0.0001 per transaction.
Nailwal hasn’t responded to Buterin’s comments.
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