Polygon (MATIC) Co-Founder Departs Company: Here’s Why

• Polygon co-founder Anurag Arjun said on Thursday that he’s leaving Polygon to work on another project.
• Arjun will work on a project that used to belong to Polygon.
• Sandeep Nailwal, another Polygon co-founder, said that it’s not a “goodbye.”

Polygon (MATIC) has been one of the biggest winners in the cryptocurrency world over the past few years. With multiple Ethereum scaling solutions in production, the company is set to become a layer 2 powerhouse in the near future.

However, on Thursday, Polygon came out with an announcement that surprised its user base – one of Polygon’s co-founders is leaving the company.

Polygon Co-Founder Leaves Company

Anurag Arjun, one of Polygon’s co-founders, tweeted yesterday that after more than five years of building Polygon, he’s leaving the company.

The reason? Arjun said that he’s going to work on Avail, a modular blockchain optimized for data availability. Avail used to belong to Polygon Labs and Polygon Foundation but will now be spun off and exist on its own with Arjun as its founder.

1/ Today marks a historic day in my 5+ years at Polygon.

I'm excited to announce that Avail, a modular blockchain optimized for data availability, will be spun off and exist separately from Polygon Labs and Polygon Foundation. See Thread ⏬

— Anurag Arjun (@anuragarjun) March 16, 2023

Sandeep Nailwal, another Polygon co-founder, said on Twitter that Arjun’s departure isn’t a “goodbye.”

“The Polygon protocol would not be what it is today without the leadership and technical vision of Anurag. While Anurag’s considerable intellect and energy will be missed, this isn’t a goodbye. He will be solving a scalability challenge that is key to Web3’s shared mission.”

We are laser focused on ZK scaling for Ethereum & aligning fully with its roadmap. Today, we have announced that Avail, the Polygon Data Availability solution, will be spun off completely from Polygon Labs.https://t.co/oFg28mCsKg

— Sandeep Nailwal | sandeep. polygon 💜 (@sandeepnailwal) March 16, 2023

Arjun’s exit comes just 10 days before Polygon’s launch of its zkEVM scaling solution. Polygon zkEVM, expected to be released on March 27, is set to be the first such project to be deployed on Ethereum mainnet.

MATIC had no significant reaction to the news of Arjun’s departure announcement. MATIC is currently trading at around $1.18, up 3.9% in the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.

On the Flipside

• It’s unclear why Avail could no longer exist under Polygon.

Why You Should Care

Polygon is one of the largest Ethereum scaling companies in the Ethereum ecosystem. One of the founders departing the company 10 days before the launch of its highly-anticipated product can be seen as a cause for concern, though it’s unknown why exactly Arjun decided to leave the company.

Read more about Polygon’s zkEVM launch:
Polygon (MATIC) zkEVM Clinches Final Approval for March Release

Read more about when to expect ETH staking withdrawals:
Ethereum Devs Confirm ETH Staking Withdrawals Date