Polygon 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.
In a post shared on X, Bjelic cited evolving visions as the reason for his departure, noting that he could “no longer contribute to Polygon to the best of [his] abilities.” He added 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,” he 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 Polygon’s founding team.
As the project continues to mature, industry observers will watch closely to see how the next phase of leadership at Polygon navigates its technical transformation and growing competition in the Layer 2 space.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
