In This Article
- Polygon Co-Founder Speaks Out On His Exit From The Layer-2 Crypto: "I Can No Longer Contribute To Polygon To The Best Of My Abilities"
- The Future Of Polygon Crypto Is Unclear Following Bjelic's Departure
- BONUS: Solaxy (SOLX) Hits $40m In Presale Funding - Is This The Next 100x Layer-2 Play?
- Late Flurry Of Investment Into Solaxy Due To The Launch Of Its Pump.fun Competitor: Igniter Protocol
Best Meme Coin ICOs to Invest in May 2025One of the co-founders of Layer-2 protocol, Polygon Crypto (POL) has announced he is stepping back from the blockchain project, according to an announcement yesterday (May 23).
Mihailo Bjelic, one of the original co-founders of Polygon, will be leaving his positions with both the Layer-2’s (L2) main development studio, Polygon Labs, and the Polygon Foundation.
PSA: After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation, and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs.
I was introduced to crypto in 2013 (damn, time flies). By 2017, I was deep down the rabbit hole, fascinated by…
— Mihailo Bjelic (@MihailoBjelic) May 23, 2025
Polygon Co-Founder Speaks Out On His Exit From The Layer-2 Crypto: “I Can No Longer Contribute To Polygon To The Best Of My Abilities”
Bjelic took to X to announce his departure from Polygon crypto project.
He said; “As projects evolve and mature, it is natural for visions to evolve, and sometimes diverge. With this in mind, I can no longer contribute to Polygon to the best of my abilities. That said, I remain confident that Polygon leadership is committed to the success of the crypto project. I’ll always be cheering from the sidelines, and supporting however and whenever I can.”
By leaving Polygon, Bjelic will be stepping down from two separate positions within the organization. He will be leaving his position at the blockchain’s main development studio, Polygon Labs, and also from the Foundation board.
Eight years ago, in 2017, Bjelic co-founded the Ethereum Layer 2, which was initially called Matic Network. He did it alongside Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun.
With Polygon, Bjelic has contributed massively to the blockchain research and development space. Polygon, under his tenure, made some huge advancementsin the zero-knowledge and proof-of-stake fields.
The L2 has undergone a big transition in recent times. In September 2024, Polygon initiated a token migration as part of its ‘2.0’ roadmap. The migration saw MATIC tokens being swapped for the new ticker, POL, on a 1:1 basis.
🚨 BREAKING: Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic steps down the third co-founder to exit since 2023.
Are you still holding $POL?#crypto #web3 #altcoins #Polygon pic.twitter.com/EhfRfbEwpA
— Crypto Crown Sahil Dubey (@ICryptoCrown) May 24, 2025
RELATED: Layer 2 Arms Race is On: World’s First Solana Layer 2 Launched in 25 Days in $40M ICO
The Future Of Polygon Crypto Is Unclear Following Bjelic’s Departure
The move came as part of a wider initiative to expand the utility of the network’s native token. It cover across gas fees, staking, and infrastructure such as its AggLayer protocol, which aims to bridge blockchains together seamlessly.
Bjelic’s departure comes two years after Kanani and Arjun, two of the L2’s other co-founders, left their active roles with the blockchain company.
The future of Polygon is unclear, however it has fallen behind other, newer Layer-2 chains in recent years. From its early days of being the number one Layer-2 on Ethereum. POL with billions of dollars in TVL (total-value locked), it now sits as the number 13th largest chain, with just $969 million in TVL, per DefiLlama.
More recent L2 launches have quickly overtaken Polygon, with two examples being Base and Arbitrum. Like Polygon, they are Ethereum EVM L2’s but both have a significantly higher TVL than Polygon. Base is the sixth largest chain with $3.8 billion TVL while Arbitrum is seventh with $2.64 billion.
On the token side, POL is down 5.1% on the day and 67% down from this time last year.
Currently trading for $0.23, POL is down 82% from it’s March 2024 all-time high of $1.24. It remains to be seen whether the change in leadership at Polygon and the launch of its Agglayer initiative will be enough to save the one-time market leader in the L2 space.
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BONUS: Solaxy (SOLX) Hits $40m In Presale Funding – Is This The Next 100x Layer-2 Play?
Solana’s first ever native L2 protocol, Solaxy (SOLX), has just hit a landmark $40 million in presale funding, making it one of the biggest presales of 2025 so far. With just 22 days left until the ICO comes to an end, SOLX is gearing up to be one of the hottest launches this year.
Since its launch in 2020, Solana has been known to struggle, with delayed/failed transactions and slowdowns. Sometimes even full-blown outages hit as its most common issues.
This is why Solaxy (SOLX) has seen such an incredible amount of success during its presale phase. It is the first ever L2 solution for Solana and is launching at the perfect time with the market heading into full bull market hysteria.
The demand for a native L2 solution for Solana is clear for all to see, evidenced by the gigantic $40 million (and counting) presale raise. Many investors are pointing toward Ethereum’s ecosystem of L2 protocols being valued at a combined $16+ billion as a reason why SOLX is a blue-chip investment.
While the Ethereum L2’s are all stepping on each others toes, eying for the same market share and user base, Solaxy stands alone on a network with a near $10b in TVL and over $3.5b in daily on-chain trading volume.
Late Flurry Of Investment Into Solaxy Due To The Launch Of Its Pump.fun Competitor: Igniter Protocol
Solaxy works by utilizing rollup technology. Solx batches together Solana transactions before taking them off chain for processing, which are then sent back to the mainnet for final settlement.
The SOLX team didn’t stop at merely being the first L2 protocol on Solana, with the teams recent announcement of its ‘Igniter Protocol’, a competitor to the Pump.Fun token launchpad.
Igniter will give SOLX holders the power to create and launch their own tokens directly on the Solaxy rollup. There is a good chance that the next WIF, POPCAT or BONK could be launched via the Igniter Protocol.
With its own launchpad, Solaxy isn’t just Solana’s first L2; it is an all-in-one, rollup-native ecosystem.
Visit The Solaxy Presale To Learn More
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One of the Polygon (POL) co-founders leaves the blockchain firm
- Mihailo Bjelic is the third co-founder to leave the Layer-2 firm in the past two years
- The POL token is 82% down from it’s March 2024 all-time high, with doubts that it will ever recover
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In This Article
- Polygon Co-Founder Speaks Out On His Exit From The Layer-2 Crypto: "I Can No Longer Contribute To Polygon To The Best Of My Abilities"
- The Future Of Polygon Crypto Is Unclear Following Bjelic's Departure
- BONUS: Solaxy (SOLX) Hits $40m In Presale Funding - Is This The Next 100x Layer-2 Play?
- Late Flurry Of Investment Into Solaxy Due To The Launch Of Its Pump.fun Competitor: Igniter Protocol
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