Behind Polygon’s Rise: The Story of Jaynti Kanani

• Jaynti Kanani co-founded Polygon in 2017 to help solve Ethereum’s speed and cost issues, transforming a simple idea into a major Layer-2 solution.
• In 2023, Kanani stepped away from his active role at Polygon to pursue new passions like AI and media, while staying engaged with Web3.

Jaynti Kanani is not a name that suddenly appeared and immediately became the center of attention in the crypto industry. Born and raised in Ahmedabad, India, he grew up in a family of ordinary workers. His father worked in a diamond factory.

While other people might have given up because of their condition, Kanani was actually more curious about the world of technology. Not because he was following trends, but because he knew that if he didn’t dare to try, he would never know where he could get.

Jaynti Kanani: Turning Curiosity Into One of Ethereum’s Biggest Allies

Initially, Kanani was a nobody in the blockchain world. He was just an engineering student who liked to tinker, and worked at several technology companies. But his curiosity about the slow and expensive Ethereum became the starting point for everything.

Like someone who is annoyed by the long queue at the train ticket counter, he didn’t just complain, but started to find out how to make a faster and more efficient system.

In 2017, together with two friends, he started a small project called Matic. His focus was simple: make Ethereum not slow. But from this small project, Polygon was born, which is now known as one of the largest Layer-2s for Ethereum.

The cool thing is, their technology makes transactions cheaper and faster, to the point that many big projects have moved to Polygon.

New Chapters, Same Curiosity

Despite his success, October 2023 was the moment Kanani made an unusual decision: stepping down from his active role at Polygon. Not because of drama, not because he was tired. He said he wanted to focus on new things but still support Polygon behind the scenes. Many were surprised, but that was Kanani’s style. He doesn’t like to stay in his comfort zone for too long.

Now, he is busy at Morphic, a company that is exploring AI and media technology. Although different from blockchain, it still shows one thing: he is still curious. He still wants to know the limits of his abilities in other fields. In fact, if you look at his activities on social media, he is still actively commenting on technology and the future of Web3.

For those who follow in her footsteps, Kanani’s journey is a reminder that not everyone who is successful has to come from a big city, go to an expensive school, or have top connections. Sometimes, the initial capital is only one thing: a curiosity that can’t be stopped.

Maybe the next time you’re annoyed waiting for an application to load or see a transfer fee that makes your wallet cry, just remember—from that kind of annoyance, Jaynti Kanani was able to create one of the most popular blockchain solutions in the world.