Sandeep Nailwal on Why He Stayed: From a Humble Upbringing to Building Polygon as a Global Payments Layer

In this episode of When Shift Happens, I sit down with Sandeep Nailwal, founder of Polygon, to discuss what it takes to build through chaos, why he refused to “walk off” when crypto turned ugly in 2022, and what Polygon is really trying to become: not just another blockchain, but a global payments layer powered by stablecoins. Along the way, Sandeep reflects on his childhood, his obsession with individual sovereignty, and the philanthropic moment that turned crypto into a cure for people dying without aid.

“I refuse to play for mediocrity”

Sandeep’s worldview is starkly binary. Either Polygon becomes something that lasts, or it dies trying. Early in the conversation, he puts it plainly: “I refuse to play for mediocrity… either we’ll fight for that or we crash and run. That's the only thing I'm going to fight for.” And that’s the mindset that has shaped his life.

Both of his grandfathers were servants in another family’s home. Growing up in Delhi, Sandeep lived with five people in a cramped single-room space on a rooftop. He remembers excelling in school, earning respect outside, then returning home to a reality he didn’t want anyone to see. “Till I was probably 21, 22, I never invited anybody to my house,” he admits. That tension created the hunger that still drives him. Not to be comfortable, but to do something undeniably big. “I didn’t want to play small and hated losing.”

Why he stayed when others cashed out

Crypto makes it unusually easy for founders to leave early. Unlike Web2 startups that require a decade of grinding, liquidity often arrives fast. When Polygon peaked in 2021–2022, it reached roughly $30 billion in market cap. Sandeep and his co-founders could have exited easily.

But he chose not to. “Polygon wants to go global… that promise is important for me,” he says. So staying wasn’t about money, but about seeing the idea through. He’s frank about the cost, from long hours, little sleep, to an inability to sit still even on vacation. Regardless, purpose has replaced rest for him.

Explaining Polygon without the jargon

When asked to explain Polygon to his mum, Sandeep offers one of the clearest descriptions of crypto’s value: “Polygon is a bank where nobody else owns your money. You own directly on your app.”

He contrasts this with traditional banking. With a bank account, you don’t truly own your funds; the institution does, and it can shut you down. With a wallet, ownership is direct, as long as you control your keys. It’s a simple explanation, but it captures Polygon’s deeper goal, which is sovereignty.

Polygon’s pivot to payments

Polygon is now fully focused on stablecoins and payments. The clearest evidence is hiring Stripe’s former head of crypto as Chief Product Officer. For Sandeep, payments are where blockchains will always outperform legacy systems.

The traction supports that view. Polygon has grown from about 2.7 million transactions per day to roughly 6 million, largely driven by stablecoin activity. His near-term goal is 25–30 million payments per day, which he calls “base camp,” not the summit. The real ambition is to become a default global payments infrastructure.

He argues that crypto is only now entering its real utility phase. DeFi existed, but even there, much of the activity revolved around leverage and speculation. Payments, remittances, and stablecoins are different. They solve an everyday problem, especially outside the West, where access to banking remains fragile.

Building through the hardest period

Sandeep doesn’t romanticise the journey. He recalls early years when Polygon nearly ran out of money multiple times, raising tiny sums just to survive. Later came moments like the 2019 crash, when MATIC dropped by about 70 percent, and he woke up to being called a scammer by thousands online.

But the hardest time, he says, isn’t a single event. “The toughest period has always been now.” Now is when you’re managing regulation, infrastructure, hiring, and token volatility while the market rewards hype over substance. His frustration is clear: “My DNA is not building speculation. I want to build something meaningful.”

Sovereign individuals and the long game

Underlying everything is Sandeep’s belief in the sovereignty of the individual. Money, he argues, is only one layer. Beneath it sits law and order, enforced by states. If the goal is a truly borderless world, payments alone aren’t enough.

This is where his thinking turns futuristic. He imagines decentralised AI contributing to governance and neutral enforcement systems, which are not controlled by a single government or company. That belief led him to co-found Sentient, focused on decentralised, open-source AI. His fear is that AI is “the maximally centralising force,” while crypto is the only credible counterbalance.

When crypto became oxygen

The most powerful part of the episode is Sandeep’s COVID relief story. During India’s Delta wave, his brother-in-law, a doctor, described patients who would die within hours without oxygen. Sandeep shifted from cautious volunteering to full-scale action. He tweeted, expecting to raise maybe $1 million.

Instead, donations surged. Then Vitalik Buterin donated a massive 1 billion in SHIB, which Sandeep assumed would be worthless. It wasn’t. He managed to extract $470 million in effective cash, navigating regulatory risk and logistical chaos to get oxygen, medicine, and relief where it was needed. He calls it a “huge liability,” but one he doesn’t regret.

Why does he keep doing philanthropy? His answer is disarmingly honest: “I’m doing it purely for my own happiness.” After the emergency phase, he redirected the funds into long-term scientific research and scholarships, aiming for long-lasting impact. 

The real takeaway

Sandeep Nailwal’s story isn’t about getting rich in crypto. It’s about refusing to shrink, and refusing to leave, even when it would be rational. He stayed through the bear market not because he had to, but because leaving would mean Polygon was only ever a trade.

In an industry obsessed with exits, Sandeep is chasing endurance and building the kind of infrastructure that fades into the background, makes payments work with ease, and builds sovereignty for millions. 

👉If you enjoyed reading the summary, head over to When Shift Happens on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform to access the full convo.