The decision follows critical remarks from crypto analyst Lorenz Lehmann, who highlighted Polygon’s $250 million acquisition of Hermez in 2021—later rebranded as Polygon zkEVM—and the subsequent halt in its development. According to Lehmann, the chain was never upgraded to support blobs and has been quietly underperforming financially.

The announcement was reinforced by Polygon Foundation CEO and project co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, who revealed that Polygon zkEVM will be decommissioned in 2025. Going forward, the company will adopt a sharper focus on PoS infrastructure and Agglayer, embracing a “startup reset” mindset reminiscent of zero-to-one execution.

Strategic Pivot: What’s Next for Polygon?

According to Nailwal, the Polygon PoS chain is positioned to become a major platform for stablecoin payments and tokenization of real-world assets (RWA). The first milestone in the “Gigagas” roadmap has already entered testnet, demonstrating throughput above 1,000 transactions per second (TPS). By autumn, the team targets 5,000 TPS with sub-second finality, and ultimately aims for a scalable solution handling 100,000 TPS.

Agglayer is being developed as a foundational layer for a “blockchain internet,” providing decentralized trust without intermediaries. Agglayer v0.3 is scheduled for release during the week of June 30, with nearly complete functionality except for fast interop—set for launch by the end of Q3 2025.

Polygon is also preparing significant airdrops for POL stakers, launching a new ZK research center (Polygon ZisK) under Jordi Baylina, and planning to rebrand Agglayer under the Polygon brand.

Regulatory and Market Shifts

Nailwal also announced the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its investigation into MATIC’s security status. This regulatory relief is expected to attract market makers back to POL and enhance exchange liquidity. Polygon Foundation will launch an information campaign to guide the transition from MATIC to POL.

According to Nailwal, abandoning the “corporate institutionalization” model in favor of bold, high-velocity decision-making is a deliberate response to market dynamics. “Stability breeds mediocrity. We need sharp, aggressive action to unlock exponential growth,” he said.

The organization has entered a full reset mode, rekindling its startup DNA with a strengthened leadership team including Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron, CTO Mudita Gupta, COO Ryan Wyatt, and others.

Notably, Polygon zkEVM launched its beta in March 2023 but experienced significant blockchain failures within a year, reinforcing the decision to sunset the solution.