Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin applauds Polygon for pioneering ZK technology

• He has praised Polygon and founder Nailwal for their contribution to Ethereum’s scalability.
• Buterin highlighted Polygon’s early leadership in zero-knowledge technology.
• Nailwal has participated in various humanitarian acts, including funding Balvi’s pandemic research.

The cryptocurrency market remains weak as Bitcoin’s fundamentals continue to weaken.

Amid the uncertainty, Vitalik Buterin has taken it to X to publicly praise Polygon and its founder, Sandeep Nailwal, for their remarkable contributions to scaling Ethereum.

Buterin commented on Polygon’s technical breakthroughs, especially its early investment in zero-knowledge EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) development.

He further respected Nailwal’s humanitarian efforts that merged health initiatives with blockchain development.

I really appreciate both Sandeep Nailwal’s personal contributions and Polygon’s immensely valuable role in the Ethereum ecosystem.

I really appreciate both @sandeepnailwal‘s personal contributions and @0xPolygon‘s immensely valuable role in the ethereum ecosystem.

To recap:

* Polygon hosts @Polymarket, which is probably the single most successful example of a “not just boring finance” app that has actually…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 21, 2025

Polygon’s influence on Ethereum’s growth

Buterin’s post emphasized Polygon as a cornerstone of Ethereum’s scalability, crediting the blockchain for hosting innovative applications.

For instance, Polymarket has seen remarkable traction as a non-monetary blockchain offering real-world value.

Moreover, Polygon has hosted multiple high-throughput.

It has also prioritized ZK-EVM development and research.

Vitalik applauded the project’s early collaboration with Jording Bayliba’s team, who helped the Ethereum ZK ecosystem thrive during its experimental phase.

Polygon put a lot of resources into ZK-EVM proving early on, both by bringing in Jordi Baylina’s team and through other efforts, and greatly helped in moving the space forward.

The Ethereum co-founder also praised Polygon for creating AggLayer, which aids proof aggregation.

Buterin believes these efforts reflect Polygon’s dedication to building innovative tools that strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem.

Nailwal’s humanitarian efforts

Besides Polygon’s technical success, Buterin also spotlighted Sandeep Nailwal’s humanitarian drive and personal integrity.

For instance, his CryptoRelief initiative donated crypto assets to support India’s biomedical infrastructure.

In a gesture that demonstrated Nailwal’s integrity, the Polygon co-founder refunded SHIB tokens worth $190 million that Buterin had sent to the relief fund.

Buterin later channeled these funds to launch Balvi, an anti-pandemic project focused on indoor air safety and refining global health.

He voluntarily returned $190M of the proceeds from the SHIB token that I donated, which made the whole Balvi open-source anti-airborne-disease biotech program possible and possibly accelerated our understanding of important anti-pandemic topics like clean indoor air by years.

ZK technology and what’s next

Besides his appreciation, Buterin reflected on Polygon’s current advancement crossroads.

While the POL ecosystem pioneered ZK tech, the landscape has matured.

For instance, ZK-centric teams like Risc Zero, Brevis, and Succinct Labs now work independently from L2 networks.

Buterin trusts that such separations boost specialization as each team showcases its full capabilities.

Furthermore, Buterin urged Polygon to adopt “off-the-shelf ZK tech for enhanced security within its proof-of-security chain to align with Ethereum’s vision for L2 scalability.

Indeed, ZK has adopted a user-friendly approach, with each transaction costing $0.0001 to prove.

Altcoins Ethereum and Polygon’s POL underperformed today as selling activities dominate the broader cryptocurrency landscape, losing up to 5% of their value in the past day.