Mihailo Bjelic, one of the four co-founders of Polygon, is exiting the network.

Bjelic made the announcement on X, «After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation, and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs,» he said.

With Bjelic’s exit, co-founder Sandeep Nailwal becomes the last remaining member of the original founding team.

Nailwal acknowledged Bjelic’s contributions to the network and wished him luck for the future.

The layer 2 network, which was original known as Matic, was formed by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Mihailo Bjelic and Anurag Arjun.

As of writing, Polygon’s POL is down 5% in the last 24 hours, trading over 23 cents.

Bullish crypto bets lost over $500 million in the past 24 hours as traders took profits and markets slid following President Donald Trump’s fresh threats of tariffs on European imports and Apple products, sparking a wave of liquidations.

Bitcoin, which had been trading above $111,000, dropped quickly to around $108,600, wiping out intraday gains and rattling broader market sentiment.

BTC’s drop was mirrored across the crypto complex, with futures tracking ether (ETH), Solana’s SOL, xrp (XRP) and dogecoin (DOGE) showing losses from $30 million to over $100 million.

Bitcoin futures saw roughly $181 million in losses, while Ether futures accounted for nearly $142 million. Altcoins added another $100 million in liquidations, including notable wipeouts in SOL, DOGE, and XRP.

pic

The largest single liquidation was a $9.53 million BTC-USDT swap on OKX, CoinGlass data shows.

A liquidation occurs when an exchange forcefully closes a trader’s leveraged position due to the trader’s inability to meet the margin requirements.

Large-scale liquidations can indicate market extremes, like panic selling or buying. A cascade of liquidations might suggest a market turning point, where a price reversal could be imminent due to an overreaction in market sentiment.

The pullback arrived just as bitcoin was gaining momentum on ETF inflows and growing institutional interest, leading some to expect a calm weekend.

Instead, volatility returned in full force. With the macro environment now destabilized by renewed trade war fears, traders may remain cautious heading into next week’s sessions.

The crypto market turned red over the weekend, with Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano’s ADA, and XRP each dropping over 7% as profit-taking set in after a strong week.

Bitcoin fell from a daily high of $111,200 to just over $107,000 on Friday, causing a swift change in sentiment. The drop came as President Donald Trump revived fears of a tariff war with the European Union — threatening a 50% levy as talks were “going nowhere.”

Market cap shed 5% and the broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index tracking the largest tokens, fell 2.2% as traders moved to lock in gains amid rising volatility.

The move comes despite bitcoin touching fresh highs above $111,500 just days earlier, with ETF inflows, stablecoin legislation, and institutional buying supporting its rally. But those same tailwinds haven’t kept altcoins afloat in the short term.

“Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high also carries altcoins toward a bullish direction,” said Haiyang Ru, co-CEO of HashKey Group, said in a Telegram message. “But if BTC’s volatility picks up again, traders may rotate into regulated stablecoins — especially with new frameworks in the U.S. and Hong Kong easing that transition.”

Alex Kuptsikevich, chief analyst at FxPro, crypto sentiment recently hit levels last seen in January, just as BTC and ETH reached critical resistance zones. “Unlike previous BTCUSD rallies, the current movement is not just momentum-driven but backed by real demand and macro factors,” he noted.

Still, markets are showing signs of fatigue. Ethereum is struggling to break past its 200-day moving average near $2,650, while altcoins that previously surged — such as HYPE and EIGEN — are now cooling off after double-digit gains.

Analysts warn that if BTC doesn’t establish a new support zone, altcoin losses could deepen.

For now, the weekend pullback displays the fragility of rallies in low-liquidity conditions and the speed at which sentiment can turn.