Even though VC firms have flooded the crypto market with funding, a $400 million acquisition by Polygon is a reminder that startups in the wider blockchain field have played a strong role in shaping the future of crypto too. Polygon, which developed a protocol built on top of Ethereum that’s supposed to make the blockchain faster and easier to use, said Thursday that it had acquired Mir, a startup that has developed a way to simplify how Ethereum verifies transactions. 

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal compared his startup’s relationship with Ethereum to a bank’s connection to Venmo. “Ethereum is your bank account and Polygon is your Venmo, where you can freely and easily transfer things at a low cost online,” he said in an interview with The Information. “You don't have to go through a lot of complexity.”