On 2025-10-21, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal publicly questioned loyalty to Ethereum after a perceived lack of support, sparking a polygon ethereum dispute that divided developers and investors, according to Reuters. Related analysis
On 2025-10-21, Sandeep Nailwal criticised the Ethereum community for what he described as insufficient backing and openly questioned his long-term loyalty after a perceived lack of support, according to reporting by Reuters.
The remarks circulated across social channels and prompted debate among validators and projects that rely on coordinated efforts. Internal analyses on platform dynamics show similar stress tests, and participants urged careful assessment of governance implications.
Nailwal’s post referenced community obligations and drew attention to his charity work, but any direct link between the comments and Crypto Relief India is unconfirmed at publication.
Vitalik Buterin replied by acknowledging Polygon’s contributions within the Ethereum ecosystem while noting that Polygon lacks an on‑chain proof system that gives the full security guarantees of many layer‑two designs.
Buterin also pointed to zero‑knowledge proving stacks — including zk‑EVM approaches — as an available path forward; commentators have cited proving costs as low as $0.0001 per transaction in recent discussions on zk rollups CoinDesk.
Verify original posts and timestamps before drawing conclusions; public threads can be edited or misattributed, and direct quotes should be checked against primary sources.
Buterin emphasised that zk proofs, and zkEVM technology associated with some Polygon products, shift trade‑offs between decentralisation and throughput but do not eliminate governance or incentive questions.
Experts note that prover costs and verification latency remain operational constraints even as proofs become cheaper.
Market participants will watch whether public disputes affect token sentiment, partnerships or institutional allocations; at publication swaps and liquidity metrics showed limited immediate volatility.
In brief, the exchange between Sandeep Nailwal and Vitalik Buterin frames a governance and technical discussion rather than a protocol split. Readers should consult the original posts dated 2025-10-21 and the Reuters and CoinDesk coverage when forming conclusions.


