Sandeep Nailwal is one of the most recognizable faces of Ethereum’s scaling ecosystem, known both for technical leadership at Polygon and for humanitarian action. Born in a small town in Uttarakhand, India, and educated in computer science, he co-founded Matic Network (later rebranded Polygon) in 2017 alongside Jaynti Kanani, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. Under his leadership as COO and co-founder, Polygon grew from a niche Ethereum sidechain into a multi-chain ecosystem with $10B+ in TVL at peak and the native MATIC token reaching a $20B+ market cap. In May 2021, at the height of India’s devastating COVID-19 second wave, he launched Crypto Relief and raised over $1 billion in crypto donations — including arguably the largest single crypto donation in history from Vitalik Buterin.
Early Life and Career
Childhood: Born in Gadkhet, Uttarakhand (Himalayan region of India), in a modest household
Education: Studied Computer Science (Indraprastha University, Delhi area)
Pre-Polygon career:
- Built tech consulting companies in India
- Ran a product company building consumer software
- Became interested in blockchain around 2016-2017
The Polygon founding story:
Nailwal met Jaynti Kanani (a data scientist at Housing.com) at a blockchain meetup in Mumbai in 2017. They identified Ethereum’s scalability problem — at the time, CryptoKitties had just clogged the network — and started building Matic Network: a Plasma-based Layer 2 for Ethereum. Co-founders:
- Jaynti Kanani: Technical co-founder, CEO
- Anurag Arjun: Product co-founder
- Sandeep Nailwal: Business/operations co-founder, public face
- Mihailo Bjelic: Developer, fourth co-founder (joined slightly later, focused on ZK development)
Building Polygon
The following sections cover this in detail.
Matic Network (2017-2021)
MATIC IEO (April 2019): Launchpad IEO on Binance raised $5M at $0.00263 per token — one of the most historically profitable binary bets in crypto (MATIC peaked at $2.92).
2021 rebranding to Polygon:
- Dropped “Matic” to reflect expanded scope beyond the original Plasma/PoS sidechain
- Aggressively acquired ZK proof companies: Hermez Network ($250M), Mir Protocol ($400M), Nightfall (Ernst & Young), Polygon ID (identity)
- Positioned as an “Ethereum’s internet of blockchains” — bridging multiple chain architectures
Nailwal’s specific role:
- Led partnerships and ecosystem development
- Primary spokesperson for Polygon’s expansion strategy
- Recruited major Web2 brands to deploy on Polygon (Reddit, Instagram (Meta), Starbucks, Nike)
- Driven community building, especially Indian Ethereum developer community
Polygon 2.0 and POL
MATIC → POL transition (2024):
- Polygon 2.0 is a multi-chain architecture: Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, CDK (Chain Development Kit)
- MATIC rebranded to POL with an expanded utility role (validators can stake POL to secure multiple chains simultaneously)
- Nailwal led public communication of this transition, including extensive explanation videos and AMAs
Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit):
- Similar to OP Stack or Arbitrum Orbit — deploy custom ZK-powered chains
- Used by: OKX X1 chain, Immutable zkEVM, Manta Pacific (migrated), Gnosis (migration planned)
- Aggregated using the AggLayer (shared ZK aggregation bridge across CDK chains)
Crypto Relief — India COVID Response
In May 2021, India’s COVID-19 second wave became a catastrophic public health crisis: hospitals overwhelmed, oxygen shortages, mass deaths. The Indian government was struggling to coordinate a response.
Nailwal’s decision:
Distraught and frustrated watching his country suffer, Nailwal created Crypto Relief — a donation fund accepting crypto (ETH, BTC, etc.) to buy oxygen concentrators, PPE, ventilators, and ICU equipment for India.
Vitalik Buterin’s donation:
Buterin donated to Crypto Relief + COVID-Crypto India fund:
- 500 ETH (~$1.5M at the time)
- 50 trillion SHIB tokens — received as a developer allocation from the Shiba Inu team, worth ~$1.2 billion at peak SHIB prices
- Buterin liquidated/sold most SHIB in smaller amounts to preserve price while maximizing donation value
- Total Buterin donations to India COVID: estimated $1B+ at peak SHIB valuation
Crypto Relief outcomes:
- Raised $1B+ equivalent in crypto donations
- Purchased oxygen concentrators, ventilators, medicines distributed across India
- Partnered with existing NGOs for distribution
- Demonstrated crypto’s ability to move large philanthropic capital rapidly across borders without traditional banking delays
Emotional significance:
Nailwal spoke publicly about watching his home region in Uttarakhand struggle, about reaching people who couldn’t access resources through official channels. Crypto Relief became one of the most cited examples of crypto’s positive real-world impact.
Public Profile and Communication Style
Social media: Active on X (@sandeepnailwal) with ~600K followers; posts range from technical Polygon updates to India crypto advocacy
Communication style: Known for being direct and sometimes confrontational — notably sparred with critics of MATIC/Polygon in public debates. Also known for emotional authenticity, particularly around India COVID.
India crypto advocacy: Regular voice pushing Indian government for clearer crypto regulation (India imposed 30% tax on crypto gains in 2022, one of the world’s harshest rates); testified/lobbied for more balanced policy.
Crypto immigration:
- Polygon incorporated in the US (Delaware) while remaining deeply Indian in team composition
- Nailwal himself relocated to the UAE, which has favorable crypto regulatory environment
- Advocates for Indian developers to build in Web3
Polygon’s Key Milestones (Post-2021)
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Rebranded to Polygon; $450M raise from Sequoia, SoftBank, Tiger Global |
| 2021 | DeFi surge — Aave, Curve, SushiSwap deploy on Polygon PoS |
| 2022 | $20B market cap peak for MATIC; $9B more raised in funding rounds |
| 2022 | Meta announces Instagram NFT support on Polygon |
| 2022 | SBF/FTX collapse — Polygon not directly involved but market damage |
| 2023 | Polygon zkEVM mainnet launch |
| 2024 | MATIC → POL transition; AggLayer launch; CDK chains growing |
| 2024 | POL token market cap significant decline from MATIC ATH |
Social Media Sentiment
Sandeep Nailwal is broadly liked within the crypto community — the Crypto Relief work earned enormous goodwill that extends well beyond Polygon fans. Crypto maximalists criticize Polygon’s many pivots (PoS sidechain → Plasma → ZK rollup → multi-chain CDK) as reflecting product confusion, though defenders argue this reflects appropriate adaptation to a fast-moving technical landscape. The MATIC → POL rebrand was confusing to retail investors. POL’s price performance from ATH ($2.92 MATIC) to present is disappointing — a common refrain is that Polygon as a company built incredible partnerships and ecosystem but couldn’t translate that into sustained token value vs. simpler narratives (ETH keeps more value than the Ethereum ecosystem tokens). Nailwal is seen as a genuinely authentic founder, unusual in crypto.
Last updated: 2026-04
Related Terms
Sources
Kanani, J., Nailwal, S., Arjun, A., & Bjelic, M. (2020). Matic Network: More Usable Blockchain for Everyone. Matic Network Whitepaper.
Tiwari, M., & Rajput, A. (2022). India’s Crypto Market: Growth, Challenges and the Road Ahead. Observer Research Foundation.
Habib, I., & Zeb, K. (2021). Crypto Philanthropy: New Dimensions of Digital Giving. Philanthropy & Society.
Gudgeon, L., Werner, S., Perez, D., & Knottenbelt, W. (2020). DeFi Protocols for Loanable Funds. arXiv.
Ben-Sasson, E., et al. (2019). Scalable, Transparent, and Post-Quantum Secure Computational Integrity. IACR ePrint.