Polygon Labs looks for ‘storytelling’ help through strategic investment in Boys Club

Polygon Labs, the group developing the eponymous blockchain, is making a strategic investment in web3 media project Boys Club.

Boys Club will work closely with the R&D lab to help “advance Polygon’s mission of making crypto more practical, accessible, and valuable for everyday people through products, payments, and meaningful storytelling.”

“Boys Club brings a cultural intelligence and creative voice that perfectly complements our vision for the future of crypto,” Head of Marketing at Polygon Labs Leon Stern said in a statement, noting Boys Club will contribute across events, social strategy, editorial development, and narrative design.

The investment comes amid a reevaluation of marketing across tech, especially in web3, which has seen rising prices without corresponding adoption. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article that found even big tech firms like Google and Microsoft are hiring “storytellers” as large language models drive the marginal cost of copy to practically zero.

Noting that “storytelling” has become a “buzzword,” Polygon said it is looking for assistance in gaining cultural capital, particularly as blockchain-based use cases like stablecoin payments and neobanking find a wider audience.

Strategic investment or partnership?

It is unclear why the relationship is being called a “strategic investment,” rather than an undisclosed payment for services rendered. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Boys Club stressed it will continue to operate as an “independent and neutral media organization.”

The Block reached out to Boys Club for a comment and asked a Polygon representative if Polygon Labs will receive equity in Boys Club.

“Central to this partnership is Boys Club’s continued editorial independence and neutrality. Boys Club will retain full control over its creative direction, voice, and business operations,” and maintain its client roster, including potential competitors, including protocols like Aptos, Base, Solana, Stellar, and others, the statement reads.

Launched in 2021, Boys Club has published newsletters, podcasts, and other forms of media, and has produced events, including through partnerships with leading crypto firms like a16z crypto, Coinbase, Kraken, and Polymarket. At publication time, Boys Club has not posted about the investment on its main X account.

Many sides of Polygon

Notably, Polygon has had an evolving brand image over the years. Launched in 2017 as a Plasma-based sidechain called Matic Network, the team shifted strategy to align as an Ethereum Layer 2 in 2021 while rebranding to Polygon. The project converted MATIC tokens to POL, and launched an SDK and the Agglayer to become a hub for interoperable chains.

Even today, debate persists as to whether Polygon is a true Layer 2. In October, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal commented on the phenomenon of the “Ethereum community” embracing Polygon-based apps like Polymarket and Polygon SDK chains like Katana and XLayer, while discounting Polygon’s allegiance to Ethereum.

Earlier this year, Nailwal took “unilateral control” as the CEO of the Polygon Foundation and is the last remaining Polygon co-founder. Polygon’s multi-chain framework has made notable contributions to zero-knowledge tech and proof-of-stake operations, including research supporting open-source Plonky2 and Plonky3 proof systems.