Anurag Arjun is a crypto entrepreneur and infrastructure builder associated with Ethereum scaling. He is best known as a co-founder of Polygon, originally launched as Matic Network, and as a co-founder of Avail, a modular blockchain project focused on data availability and cross-chain interoperability. His work spans product development and ecosystem building for networks used by rollups, appchains, and decentralized applications.
Overview
Arjun’s profile is closely tied to two shifts in blockchain architecture. The first is the rise of Layer 2 systems that extend Ethereum by moving execution off the base layer while relying on settlement and bridges. The second is the move toward modular stacks, where execution, settlement, and data availability can be provided by different networks. Avail is positioned as infrastructure in this modular category.
History and Background
Polygon began as Matic Network, a project formed to address congestion and high fees on public blockchains. As Polygon expanded, it broadened from a single scaling approach into a portfolio of developer tools and scaling initiatives that served a growing application ecosystem. Public biographies describe Arjun as a founding team member involved in shaping early product direction as the project scaled.
The broader industry shift toward rollups and modular designs highlighted a specific bottleneck, the cost and reliability of publishing transaction data. This context informs Arjun’s later emphasis on data availability as a distinct infrastructure layer, rather than treating scalability as a single product category.
Role at Avail
Avail originated as a data availability research initiative within Polygon Labs in late 2020 and later became an independent project. Arjun co-founded Avail alongside Prabal Banerjee, focusing on a standalone data availability network and a coordination layer intended to connect multiple chains. His responsibilities are commonly associated with product strategy, ecosystem development, and integration pathways for rollup frameworks and infrastructure providers.
Technology and Features
Data availability is a prerequisite for trust-minimized rollups, because users must be able to retrieve the data that underpins state transitions. Avail’s architecture is designed to make data publication verifiable for lightweight clients and to support cross-chain application coordination.
- Avail DA: a dedicated data availability layer for publishing transaction data used by rollups and appchains.
- Nexus: an aggregation and interoperability layer intended to coordinate messaging and composability across chains.
- Fusion: a framework aimed at aligning security and economic incentives across connected ecosystems, including staking and shared security concepts.
In practice, data availability layers compete on cost, latency, reliability, and operational maturity. Avail documentation also describes a native token model intended to support fees and network security, reflecting common proof-of-stake designs.
Use Cases and Market Position
Avail targets builders who need lower data costs than direct base-layer publication, including consumer applications, gaming, and trading systems that benefit from rollup-style settlement. The category includes multiple “alt-DA” solutions and shared security designs, so adoption depends on integrations, demonstrated uptime, and the strength of developer tooling.
Funding and Team
Avail has disclosed venture backing as it progressed from research to an independent roadmap, including a publicly reported seed round involving crypto-focused funds. The team has emphasized experience drawn from scaling work in the Ethereum ecosystem and from shipping developer infrastructure that serves multiple communities.
Risks and Considerations
Avail faces adoption risk because rollup teams can choose among several data availability options, and switching costs can fall as tooling matures. Technical risks include light client security, validator incentives, and the operational challenge of monitoring availability under load. Governance design and token economics can influence decentralization and long-term sustainability, particularly for networks competing to become foundational infrastructure.
