Why Movement Labs Raised $38M to Challenge Ethereum’s Scaling Status Quo

In an evolving landscape of Ethereum-scaling solutions, Movement Labs is carving out a unique space with its innovative approach to solving critical issues. Co-founder Rushi Manche recently sat down with Coinage to discuss the project’s ambitious mission, the advantages of their chosen Move programming language, and their roadmap for the future.

Manche's journey into the world of blockchain began in the realms of decentralized systems and crypto when he dropped out of Vanderbilt University. The pivotal moment came in August 2022, when Manche stumbled upon Move, a programming language developed by Facebook in their now abandoned endeavor to  bring a billion users on-chain.

Movement Labs was born out of the need to address two major issues with Ethereum's EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine): speed and security. As Manche points out, "Most L2 solutions top out at around 100 transactions per second (TPS), which is insufficient for scaling beyond basic DeFi applications." Moreover, the billions of dollars lost annually to smart contract hacks highlights the need for more secure blockchain systems.

Move, the programming language underpinning Movement Labs' technology, promises to deliver a significant improvement with scalability and security in mind, addressing the EVM's limitations. As Manche explains, the core of Movement Labs' mission is to integrate Move into Ethereum, creating a secure, high-throughput environment capable of supporting complex applications. While Aptos and Sui have launched as the first blockchains to show what Move can do in the wild, Manche says Movement’s late July testnet debut hopes to be the first real bridge for existing ETH builders.

“There hasn't been that crossover between the move and EVM and Ethereum landscape, where people in the Ethereum community can feel comfortable using it,” he said. “Even usage on most of these layer ones are pretty limited, pretty early-stage. It's similar to how Solana started when it first launched.”

To deliver on growing its community, Movement is looking to avoid scaling mistakes that have plagued other projects in the past. Many L2 solutions rely on quick fixes like launching tokens and hoping for the best, only to attract users with “no stickiness," Manche says, criticizing other projects for their lack of long-term vision.

Their strategy seems to be paying off. With $40 million deployed in the ecosystem and eight teams raising over $4 million each, Movement is not just building infrastructure but also ensuring that it has a vibrant community to continue fostering. The project is hosting a summer hackathon, and even emulating the Solana playbook by partnering with Tokyo-based phone manufacturer Up Network on a Movement phone. 

Nonetheless, Manche is clear-eyed about the stakes that come with building in the industry, echoing the many comparisons made to the dot-com bubble. While many chains will likely fade away, only a few with strong differentiation and innovative approaches will survive.

“The truth is, 99% of all these chains will die in the next one to two years. There will only probably be 5 to 10 chains that make it out,” he predicts, emphasizing that high-throughput environments and next-gen L2s will play a crucial role in this new era. For Movement to be one of those winners, the goal is clear: to claim a significant share of this market by offering a robust, secure, and scalable solution that meets the needs of modern blockchain applications. As Manche claims, Ethereum will need Move to get that done well.

"The Move thesis was spawned by Facebook where [their crypto team] said the [Ethereum virtual machine] is hot garbage. It doesn't scale," he said. "If you ever want to bring one billion users to Facebook we can't have the chain going down at 100 transactions per second and we can't get hacked for $50 million a year, so they built a new programing language and framework designed for speed and security, and our mission is to bring it to Ethereum."

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