Crypto Hiring: Polygon co-founder now has larger role

Polygon Labs executive Chair Sandeep Nailwal to focus more on zero-knowledge solutions as chief business officer

article-image

Polygon co-founder and chief business officer Sandeep Nailwal | DAS 2022 New York by Blockworks

share

Polygon’s co-founder is now also the company’s chief business officer.

Sandeep Nailwal, an original founder of what was in 2017 called the MATIC network, has been executive chairman of Polygon Labs, and will continue to be. 

But under a new expanded role, Nailwal is set to focus more on Polygon’s zero-knowledge solutions, like Polygon CDK — an open-source software toolkit for developers to create layer-2s on Ethereum.

“Polygon Labs is in the midst of building incredible, transformational technology that will provide developers and enterprises with countless opportunities to scale quickly and securely while having access to liquidity,” Nailwal said in a statement.

Read more: Polygon zkEVM prover reaches Type 1 status

Beyond the additional responsibilities for Nailwal, two crypto-focused companies fresh off of fundraises have also named new leaders.

Tokenized asset platform Centrifuge added a chief operating officer and a head of product as the on-chain asset management space gains momentum.

Centrifuge’s new COO, Julia Merkel, was previously the chief financial officer at venture capital firm BlueYard Capital.

The company has also tapped Sonam Joshi — a former pro at UBS, Google and Amazon — to lead its product unit. Joshi was also previously a director of product at Abra.

Centrifuge facilitates pools of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including assets like loans, credit and real estate. Centrifuge has roughly $280 million worth of assets in its liquidity pools.

“They join at a perfect time as Centrifuge looks to scale to meet the widespread, increasing demand for tokenized real-world assets,” Centrifuge co-founder Lucas Vogelsang said in a statement. 

Read more: Anchorage, Arca Labs link up in bid to advance tokenization adoption

The hires come after Centrifuge raised $15 million in April as part of a funding round co-led by ParaFi Capital and Greenfield.

Also raising money in April was Movement Labs. PolyChain Capital led the blockchain company’s $38 million Series A round. 

Now, Movement Labs welcomes Franck Cassez as its head of research. 

A former researcher at Consensys and a blockchain research lead at Windranger Labs, Cassez looks to help the startup bring Facebook’s Move Virtual Machine to Ethereum. 

Other notable hires

  • LMAX Group appointed Chris Knight as a managing director — a role he will step into this summer. A former executive at XTX Markets and Standard Chartered Bank, he will first oversee LMAX’s institutional crypto exchange.
  • Ross O’Leary has joined Coinbase’s global communications team as an associate manager.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

The convergence of DePIN and energy generation aims to address modern grid challenges by incentivizing distributed generation.

article-image

US states are now competing for Bitcoin bragging rights

article-image

The deal is likely to fuel further M&A around derivatives trading and infrastructure, Architect Partners’ Michael Klena says

article-image

Stripe announced Stablecoin Financial Accounts, which will allow businesses to have “stablecoin-powered accounts”

article-image

The deal is made up of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase’s Class A common stock

article-image

Blockworks Research uses numbers to help crypto advance to a higher stage of storytelling