• Jaynti Kanani, co-founder of Polygon, resigned from key leadership roles.
  • Around 6 months ago, he decided to step back from day-to-day operations.
  • He was no longer involved in core technical development.

Jaynti Kanani, an original co-founder of the leading layer-2 network Polygon, announced this week that he has resigned from his key leadership duties to pursue other opportunities.

In a tweet, Kanani said that after kickstarting Polygon in 2017, he decided around 6 months ago to step back from the “day-to-day grind” of operating the $7 billion protocol.

While no longer involved in core technical development, Kanani emphasized that he remains bullish on Polygon’s future and intends to continue contributing as a community member.

Fellow co-founder Sandeep Nailwal reacted emotionally, reflecting on the journey they shared building Polygon from the ground up. He expressed confidence that Kanani will keep supporting the project’s progress, whether inside or outside of Polygon Labs.

Kanani spearheaded research into Ethereum scaling even before Polygon’s mainnet launched in 2020. Along with Nailwal, he was instrumental in crafting the protocol design and driving initial adoption.

His transition comes as Polygon prepares to release a significant network upgrade dubbed Polygon Zero this year, which aims to enhance security and interoperability.

While Kanani’s departure concludes an era, he departs with Polygon firmly established as one of the most widely-used layer-2 platforms. His legacy seems assured as Polygon charts the future without one of its founding architects.