Polygon, Sonic Labs co-founders slam Ethereum Foundation

Tensions inside the Ethereum ecosystem resurfaced after senior builders accused the Ethereum Basis of neglecting layer 2 builders.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal stated his loyalty to Ethereum is weakening. He claims that the Ethereum Basis has offered “no direct assist” to his staff, regardless of Polygon’s long-standing function in scaling the community.

In an October 21 after on

Nailwal says the Ethereum group has turn into an island

Nailwal acknowledged that Polygon’s ecosystem, together with networks like Katana and XLayer, stays carefully tied to Ethereum. Nevertheless, he claimed that the group views Polygon’s progress as separate from Ethereum’s broader success.

He added that Polygon’s market worth may very well be “two to 5 occasions greater” if it positioned itself as a standalone layer 1 chain, moderately than sustaining ties to Ethereum.

His feedback observe weeks of inside debates between Ethereum builders and founders over the inspiration’s function in supporting third-party builders. Nailwal’s feedback echo previous issues from different contributors who questioned how the inspiration allocates grants and recognition inside the ecosystem.

Sonic’s Cronje raises related issues

Andre Cronje, co-founder of Sonic Labs, echoed Nailwal’s feedback, saying he has burned “over 700 ETH” constructing on Ethereum with out receiving subsidies or any sort of assist, not even a retweet.

Cronje famous that his expertise is in stark distinction to newer initiatives beneath the Sonic (S) ecosystem, which frequently obtain monetary and technical assist. His feedback strengthened Nailwal’s claims of uneven assist inside the Ethereum developer group.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responds

In a subsequent X answerEthereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin thanked Nailwal and Polygon for his or her contributions. He highlighted Polygon’s early efforts to develop zero-knowledge expertise and its efforts to make use of the AggLayer framework to scale Ethereum.

Buterin additionally cited Nailwal’s charitable work in initiatives such because the Balvi biotech program and CryptoRelief, stating that his contributions have “had a real-world affect far past crypto.”

Buterin additional stated that latest developments in ZK testing programs may enable Polygon to combine with Ethereum’s major chain and supply stronger safety ensures, suggesting a potential avenue for future collaboration.