Polygon (MATIC) Co-Founder Mihailo Bjelic Steps Away from Project After Seven Years

Mihailo Bjelic, one of the original co-founders of Polygon (formerly Matic Network), announced on Friday that he is stepping down from his roles at both Polygon Labs and the Polygon Foundation board.

Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of crypto project Polygon, is stepping down from his roles at both Polygon Labs and the Polygon Foundation board after seven years with the company, he announced Friday.

Bjelic said that he could "no longer contribute to Polygon to the best of (his) abilities" and that while he is moving on from an active role, he still has faith in the team.

"I remain confident that Polygon leadership is committed to the success of the project," Bjelic wrote. "I'll always be cheering from the sidelines and supporting however and whenever I can."

Bjelic co-founded Polygon in 2017, when it launched under the name Matic Network as a solution to Ethereum's scalability issues. Since then, Polygon has grown into one of the most prominent Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystems, with products spanning zk-rollups, sidechains and decentralized identity.

His departure comes at a pivotal time as Polygon undergoes a broader evolution with the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, a major shift aiming to unify its ecosystem under a zk-based, multi-chain architecture.

While Bjelic did not offer details about his future plans, his exit marks the end of an era for the founding team at Polygon. As the project continues to mature, industry observers will be closely following how the next phase of leadership at Polygon navigates its technical transformation and growing competition in the Layer 2 space.