As ICO hype waned in 2017-2018, the $3 million offer could have permanently changed the polygon (POL) strategy. Here’s why co-founder Sandeep Nailwal doesn’t regret the offer he and his team decided to skip seven years ago:
“Check was ready”: Sandeep Nailwal refused to sell polygons for $3 million in 2018
Sandeep Nailwal, founder of Polygon (Pol) Blockchain and CEO of Polygon Foundation, was offered $3 million to his business in 2018. The decision to reject the offer was one of those “we felt wrong in the long run, but we’ll pay off in the long run.”
Sometimes you feel that the right choice has been wrong for years, but it pays off in the long run.
In 2018, everyone was raising $15 million in the ICO boom. After winning the competition, there was also a $3 million offer. The influencer literally said, “The check is ready.”
– Sandeep | Polygon Foundation (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) CEO, August 8, 2025
According to a Nailwal post, when the ICO raised, the funding boom had lost steam, so he received a $3 million offer from Polygon, known as the Matic Network at the time. Some influencers even told him that “checks are ready,” he had to seal the deal.
Despite the small funds that received zero rewards for months, the team declined the offer as “easy money” always comes with an invisible chain. Shortly after the decision, things got worse – the polygon was ghostly made by VCS, Nailwal admits:
We’ve reached a point where VCS doesn’t even make our calls. I remember one meeting in Singapore. There, I remember literally saying, “I have to catch Uber” while the VC was trying to walk him around while pitching. I got a glimpse of his phone that the car was eight separate.
2018 Crypto Winter has destroyed Dapps Landscape, which was fueled by ICO enthusiasts. To provide context, Ethereum (ETH), the largest Altcoin and economic backbone of ICO lost 94% compared to its peak in January 2018.
When Agglayer is turned into shape, many polygon (POL) metric rockets
In 2020, Matic Network was rebranded as Polygon and transformed from Ethereum’s L2 to the global Defi Hub. The team secured a whopping $500 million in funding and remained true to their initial value. Polygons changed the way Ethereum (ETH) was scaled and loaded with thousands of mainstream daps.
In 2025, its ecosystem is approaching the release of Agglayer, a unique cross-chain interoperability infrastructure. The polygon (POL) network itself remains active and revisits some records of various metrics.
For example, Polygon (Pol) solidifies itself as a go-to blockchain for small payments. One of the three small payments on the chain occurs in polygons (POL), says the new data.
Actual adoption starts with actual use.
Polygons lead market share for small payments and earn with medium payments. Because people use it for things that matter, such as everyday, low-cost P2P payments, reliable regular financial activities and more.
Check out the default payment rails…pic.twitter.com/ntihb9fu2k
– Polygon (@0xPolygon) August 1, 2025
Polygon (Pol) also processes more than $250 million per month payments for Latin America’s digital transfer system.