In last week’s Binance Blockchain Week, Chain News had an exclusive interview with Rushi Manche, the founder of the modular blockchain project Movement Labs. We discussed the origins, mission, and beliefs of Movement, as well as technical issues such as why they chose stake rollup. We also talked about some Easter eggs in the testnet and inquired about more details of their cooperation with Tsinghua University, as well as their future development directions.
The Origins of Movement: Combining the Strengths of EVM, Move, and Ethereum
The exclusive interview took place in the media room at the main venue, Coca-Cola Arena. We first talked about Rushi’s previous experience with the Move language and asked about his feelings on the developer experience (DX) regarding the main languages.
Neo: You previously founded the educational project Ensemble and worked at Aptos. Could you briefly introduce yourself and your journey? How did you come into contact with the Move language, and what prompted you to create Movement?
Rushi: Yes, I am considered an early Move engineer. I initially worked in network security for distributed systems. I have always been interested in Rust programming and enjoy working in the Rust environment. In August 2022, I started building applications using Move and established the first decentralized exchange (DEX) on Aptos. Then in November 2022, we wanted to bring the Move language and its development experience to Ethereum, so we founded Movement. Movement is a combination of EVM, Move, and Ethereum, integrating the advantages of these platforms.
Neo: Some people say Solana’s development experience is not as good as EVM, while the Move language is more developer-friendly. As a developer, can you share your experience?
Rushi: I think EVM has two main characteristics. The Move language places a great emphasis on security, with over $4.5 billion lost annually due to hacker attacks, and Move focuses on safety and stability. Additionally, we emphasize parallelization and high-throughput execution to avoid state conflicts between transactions.
(altVM or Next-Gen VM? An article analyzing why Movement founder Rushi is so fascinated with altVM)
Why Do Other Projects Peak at Airdrops? Rushi: The Key Lies in the Cohesion of the Community’s Beliefs
Next, we asked Rushi why they chose stake rollup, which is quite different from the mainstream approach. At the same time, we were curious about how Movement plans to attract users and avoid the fate of declining after an airdrop.
Neo: Unlike typical zk-rollups or optimistic rollups, Movement uses stake rollup, seemingly drawing from the staking mechanisms of Proof of Stake or oracles. Can you explain the concept of stake rollup? Why choose stake rollup over zk or optimistic?
Rushi: Actually, it is also a kind of optimistic rollup, but we have what’s called pre-confirmation or post-confirmation mechanisms. This way, some transactions on Layer 2 can achieve fast finality, completing transactions in seconds compared to the traditional confirmation time of hours or even days.
Author’s note: The concept of pre-confirmation is when transactions are temporarily confirmed by nodes before they are officially added to a block on the chain. Through this mechanism, users can pay additional fees to ensure their transactions will be executed in the next block. If the proposer fails to fulfill their commitment (the pre-confirmed transactions are ultimately not executed), they may be penalized. This mechanism not only applies to L1 transactions but can also provide the same pre-confirmation guarantees for L2 transactions.
Neo: There are already hundreds of Layer 2 solutions on the market, many of which become inactive after an airdrop. How does Movement stand out? How does it continue to develop its ecosystem after an airdrop?
Rushi: We have a genuinely supportive community that believes in Movement’s system. Because we use MoveVM, we have many developers and applications that are not found on other EVM or Ethereum platforms. Movement aims to make an impact and promote active ecosystem development.
Neo: Movement combines the Move language and EVM, which seems more like attracting developers. What features does Movement have to attract users?
Rushi: There are two main points. First is security; Movement can protect DeFi applications and on-chain users from hacker attacks. The second is speed; we offer low gas fees and a highly efficient transaction experience similar to that of Solana and Aptos.
Imagine the security of Move combined with the stability of Ethereum and the user experience of Solana
Neo: As a Sui enthusiast, I am very excited about Movement’s goals. The next question is, the testnet seems to have a storyline with creator and explorer roles, which is interesting. Can you share the reason behind this design?
Rushi: Yes, most testnets are boring, with only a single function. Our testnet is like a game, a full-chain MMO where you can try different applications, use various testnet features, earn rewards and points, and compete with friends. You can think of it as a game where you can form guilds and acquire different relics that will aid your development.
Neo: So, it’s somewhat like a social game? Rushi: Yes.
Neo: There are also several cross-chain dApps on the testnet. How does Movement’s structure integrate with cross-chain functionality?
Rushi: We have support from LayerZero, providing cross-chain transfer capabilities, and we have built-in cross-chain bridging. We believe in a multi-chain universe, so we have a shared sequencer to unify state and support cross-rollup and all bridging functionalities.
Neo: According to the documents, Movement combines the security of Move with the compatibility of Ethereum. What is your vision for Movement? In other words, what problem does Movement solve?
Rushi: Movement is the fastest and most secure Layer 2. Currently, Ethereum EVM Layer 2s are somewhat dull and slow, and Movement wants to be the fastest and most secure Layer 2 on Ethereum. EVM currently doesn’t match Solana, so we want to bring Solana’s user experience to Ethereum.
Mass Adoption Will Emerge from Gen Z, Movement Breaks Through with Mobile Devices
We then discussed with Rushi the common industry issue of lacking breakout topics like NFTs, with the overall market becoming more of an in-house funds PVP. Rushi provided relatively specific and already-in-progress solutions to this problem. We also talked about the emergence of meme coins on Movement, which I believe is quite related to the Gen Z group Rushi mentioned.
Neo: Currently, Web3 faces many infrastructure challenges but lacks new topics that can attract Web2 funds. What kind of applications do you think can attract new users? Also, what is the most promising large-scale application on Movement?
Rushi: I believe the key to large-scale applications lies in serving consumers. Movement focuses on mobile applications, such as the Up Phone, a mobile DePin phone, allowing users to support on-chain activities with dedicated mobile devices. Additionally, we have Sentiment, an on-chain interaction device similar to a wristband, and many social and consumer applications. I think the next wave of popularity will come from Gen Z young people, such as users of platforms like webtoons, TikTok, and Instagram.
UP Network sells phones based on lies? Movement co-founder exposes no promised airdrop (post deleted)
Neo: I’m thinking about SocialFi Movewiffrens, which seems like Twitter on Movement.
Rushi: Absolutely correct.
Neo: Many people are now discussing meme coins. What do you think about the relationship between meme coins and Movement? I just saw the first meme coin Courage Dog on Movement this morning.
Rushi: I think meme coins will be very popular on Movement because our transaction fees are cheap and fast, while also having the authority of Ethereum. Courage and Nova are the first meme coins on the market, and there will be more meme coins coming in the future.
Collaborating with Taiwan’s Tsinghua University to Cultivate Movers, Focusing on Asia in the Future
Finally, we talked about several recent collaborations of Movement, especially the part with Taiwan’s Tsinghua University. We also discussed the specific fields and routes Movement plans to pursue in the future.
Neo: Recently, Movement collaborated with Gate to establish a fund. Can you introduce the main investment directions of this fund?
Rushi: We mainly invest in the Move ecosystem, including DeFi applications, lending applications, DePin applications, etc. We will invest a lot of funds to meet these needs.
Neo: Movement announced a collaboration with Taiwan’s Tsinghua University. Can you share the background story of this collaboration? Or how did this collaboration start?
Rushi: Cooper (Cooper Scanlon, co-founder of Movement Labs, met Rushi at Vanderbilt University) and I both participated in part of Movement during college, and one of our goals is to help more students and young people enter the crypto field. We work with developers from Tsinghua University to help them learn and develop the Move language, while also assisting companies in launching accelerators and incubators.
Neo: When this collaboration was first announced, I was at Tsinghua, so it was quite surprising.
Rushi: Oh, really? Are you a student at Tsinghua?
Neo: No, but I was visiting a friend at the time.
Neo: Lastly, are there any specific regions Movement particularly wants to focus on in the future? For example, Aptos and Sui both have connections with the Asian region, and Movement also sponsored last month’s Korea Blockchain Week.
Rushi: We will focus particularly on Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and mainland China.
Neo: It’s been great discussing Movement’s vision with you; it was a very valuable conversation! Thank you very much! I hope to see you again soon, and let’s “Move to the Moon” together.