It’s been a crazy year in the cryptosphere, but that shouldn’t put anyone off. This is par for the course in any burgeoning industry, but, in particular when dealing with such a revolutionary technology.
And to get right to the bottom of it all, I have the huge pleasure of welcoming back to the show one of the most intrepid developers in the space and someone who brings an equal dose of pragmatism to match his lofty goals. Last year, his company sent shockwaves through the industry thanks to the innovative work he and his team have been conducting over these last few years.
Sandeep Nailwal is an Indian entrepreneur, software developer and co-founder of one of the most influential projects in the world of Crypto & DeFi – Polygon. Sandeep who is a long-time developer has been dabbling in the space since way back in his college days. Originally known as the Matic Network, Polygon rebranded in early 2021 with the aim to reach a global audience and they’ve certainly done just that.
Polygon is ranked among the world’s top 15 cryptocurrencies, with the clear aim to break into that heralded top 3 market caps, behind luminaries Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What sets Polygon apart, however, is not only are they blazing their own trail, they’re helping expand the entire Web3 space while offering solutions to the Ethereum network that has blown the lid off the capacity and capabilities we once readily accepted.
Polygon is a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, dealing most significantly with the scalability issues that have blighted Ethereum’s progress.
The Polygon team have been busy developing Polygon zkEVM, the first zero-knowledge scaling solution that’s fully compatible with Ethereum. The goal is to reduce transaction costs and massively increase throughput, without jeopardising security.
“Unless there is zero-knowledge technology and some other things can come in, there will never be a blockchain, which can be infinitely scalable.”
The team at Polygon have spent a long time developing and building, working with small teams of developers from the bottom up. By contrast, many Silicon Valley projects are top-down. Polyhon have venture capitalists supporting them, and at the turn of the year raised $450 million as they look to broaden their developer ecosystem.
Also on the horizon is Ethereum’s much-anticipated transition to the proof of stake consensus known as ‘the Merge’. But rather than casting a shadow over the role of the Polygon network, it actually shines a light on the importance and need for Layer 2 scaling solutions. Polygon is conducting a huge number of transactions every day, whilst simultaneously countering the high gas fees that are a cause of constant frustration.
For Sandeep and his team, Polygon’s future and that of Ethereum, are symbiotic.
“We’ve developed bleeding edge technology that will process transactions at dramatically reduced costs and increased speeds – necessary to onboard a billion users to the Ethereum ecosystem.”
They’ve got fans in high places too with billionaire Mark Cuban investing heavily last year when he stated that Polygon is destroying everybody else. Now the rest of the crypto world is starting to sit up and take note.
Of course, the significant downturn we’ve seen has had some major casualties and affected almost everyone else. But it’s the long game that Sandeep is interested in and as is now becoming customary to say, it’s very early days.
Sandeep and his team have created something that will inevitably bring about exponential growth in the next 12 to 18 months, and are providing a platform on which developers have the power to grow DeFi in a way you wouldn’t have imagined only a year ago.
Sandeep for his part is an inspiring and eloquent character. He understands the value of creating a financial system for billions of people and is ready to serve, solve and speculate in order to keep growing the ecosystem.
Just recently, Sandeep announced a $50 million raise for a new startup fund – Symbolic Capital – dedicated to Web3 companies, underscoring venture capital’s growing interest in the blockchain-powered internet. Sandeep also created the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund, which has raised vast sums of money in coordination with Unicef and the Indian Government.
This will be a fascinating episode, full of insight and important information, that will help all of you better understand exactly what is happening in the world of decentralised finance and why it represents such a significant transition in all of our lives.
Download clips
A number of clips from this exclusive interview are now available to download, share and repost. Spread the word: grab these clips today!
- The crypto winter and market cycles
- Polygon’s scalability will bring mass adoption
- Why Ethereum has no competition
- The Ethereum merge
- Why Ethereum has more value than Bitcoin
- When will the flippening happen?
- People should own Web3
- Our mission is mass adoption
- Facebook’s crypto team thinks ten steps ahead
- Zero Knowledge Proof concept explained
- Polygon is the Layer 1 killer
- Representing 1 billion people
- Symbolic Capital startup fund
- Accept your limitations and become limitless
