Polygon Labs CEO: Bias Against Indian Co-Founders Hinders Network Development

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptoslate, Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron attributed the difficulty in achieving broader adoption of the Polygon network to racial bias against its co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. In a post on the X platform on November 25, Boiron suggested that Nailwal's Indian heritage has led to prejudice that hinders the recognition of Polygon, despite its widespread use across the blockchain industry.

He wrote, "If Sandeep were not Indian, Web3 would have embraced Polygon at scale, rather than treating it as a second-class citizen even when Polygon's proof of stake is more commonly used than all other blockchains combined." When a user in the cryptocurrency community argued that Indians hold significant positions in major tech companies worldwide, Boiron responded that geography also plays a role.

He pointed out that Indians like Sreeram Kannan at EigenLayer face much less bias when working in Western countries compared to those working in India. Meanwhile, the broader Web3 community remains divided on this issue. Some users believe that the challenges faced by Polygon stem from competition from emerging Ethereum Layer 2 networks or the network's own strategies, rather than bias.