Mihailo Bjelic announced his departure from Polygon’s core development team amid growing competition in layer-2 scaling solutions. His exit follows Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade which reduced layer-2 transaction costs by 90%, diminishing Polygon’s technical advantages. Bjelic cited philosophical differences about pursuing Ethereum compatibility versus building independent chains.
The move comes as Polygon faces increased pressure from zero-knowledge rollup solutions like zkSync and Scroll. Network metrics show Polygon’s daily active addresses dropped 40% QoQ while Arbitrum and Optimism saw 25% growth. Developers speculate Bjelic may launch a new interoperability-focused protocol.
Market reaction was muted with MATIC prices down 3% post-announcement, outperforming broader altcoin markets. Analysts suggest this reflects Polygon’s established ecosystem with $5 billion TVL, though long-term concerns remain about its roadmap without original leadership.
