Move’s New Purpose: Overcoming Diem’s Collapse

Sam Blackshear, the creator of the Move programming language, originally developed for the now-defunct cryptocurrency Diem, has found new applications for the language following the demise of Diem. Move is now being used by several successful blockchains, including Aptos, Sei, and Sui. Blackshear believes that Move is a better choice for building blockchains than existing languages like Solidity and Rust because it is safer and more productive. Move aims to eliminate common attack vectors and offers an object-based abstraction that makes it easier to translate thoughts into code.

Diem, previously known as Libra, was created by Facebook in an ambitious attempt to build a blockchain-powered payments network. The project faced significant regulatory hurdles and never came to fruition. The United States Federal Reserve expressed discomfort with greenlighting any stablecoin project without a comprehensive regulatory framework. Despite the failure of Diem, Blackshear and his colleagues continued to work on Move and eventually launched several other Move-powered blockchains.

Blackshear’s ultimate goal is for Move to become the industry standard for blockchain development. He co-founded Mysten Labs with other former Facebook employees to further this vision. The team launched Sui, a layer-1 blockchain built on Move, in 2023. Prior to Sui, Aptos became the first Move-powered blockchain to launch in 2022. Another Move blockchain, Sei, is also performing well in the market. While Move’s dominance as the industry standard may still be a work in progress, the success of Sui and other Move-powered blockchains showcases the potential of the language.

Blackshear believes that smart contract safety is a significant barrier to broader adoption of cryptocurrencies. By cutting out common attack vectors, Move offers advantages in terms of security and accessibility. The team at Mysten Labs is focused on improving the developer experience and making it easier for developers to build applications on their blockchain. They are also working on increasing the speed of transactions on Sui through an upgrade called Mysticeti, which is set to launch in early 2024. Blackshear believes that speed is a crucial factor for blockchain adoption, particularly for payment and gaming applications.

The journey of Move from a language developed for a failed cryptocurrency to the foundation of thriving blockchain networks is a personal one for Blackshear. He has been working on Move for six years and sees it as a way to maximize his impact and solve meaningful problems. He believes that blockchain technology is fundamentally a collaboration tool, which is what inspires him about the potential of blockchains.