Movement transcends the Libra concept, with the mainnet release imminent.

Written by: Biteye Core Contributor Fishery

Introduction

Five years ago, Facebook's Libra/Diem project burst onto the scene, capturing global attention. However, this ambitious project ultimately came to a quiet end in 2022, leaving behind an unfinished mark on the era. Nevertheless, the technological legacy of Libra—the Move language—is being revitalized through its "successors."

As everyone knows, Aptos and Sui carry this technological legacy.

Now, the emergence of the Movement Network has further opened up possibilities for breaking through the original concepts of Libra. With its modular design and the idea of ecological interconnectivity, it paints a much grander blueprint for Move than what was initially envisioned for Libra/Diem.

Development of Smart Contract Public Chains

Ethereum became the most popular public chain after Bitcoin due to its EVM smart contract functionality, driving the widespread adoption of the Solidity programming language.

After Ethereum, many emerging public chains attempted to carve out their own paths, "following the trend" to create their own smart contract programming languages in an effort to replicate Ethereum's success. For example, NEO tried using C# and JavaScript, Waves launched Ride, and Cardano chose Haskell. However, despite the novel technical intentions of these public chains, most did not achieve significant market share and ultimately failed to replace Solidity's dominance.

Over the years, the development of DeFi has gradually revealed the shortcomings of Solidity: its complex language design, susceptibility to vulnerabilities, and cumbersome development process have left many teams and users feeling fatigued.

The market's demand for a simpler, safer new generation of smart contract languages has become increasingly evident.

The Move language precisely meets this demand, emphasizing the security and uniqueness of data resources, stemming from a profound understanding of financial security and resource management. This design philosophy aligns with the core needs of blockchain asset management and is more readily accepted by groups that prioritize security and stability.

In this market cycle, the Move ecosystem has been steadily gaining traction, with developers and users gradually "voting with their feet" by choosing to migrate to Move-based blockchains. This is different from the previous speculative "follow-the-trend" behavior seen during the explosion of smart contract languages; the popularity of Move is due to its tangible solutions to the needs of developers and the market.

By observing the development trajectory of the Move ecosystem, we can see that its progress presents a growth path distinctly different from Ethereum, as well as from the rapid expansion of early smart contract platforms during market booms. The Move ecosystem has chosen a more pragmatic development strategy, focusing on solving real problems and meeting market demands.

Move Ecosystem vs. Ethereum Ecosystem

There is a wealth of literature comparing Move and Ethereum from a technical perspective; this section will take a different approach to discuss their paths to prominence.

The biggest difference is that the infrastructure team of Move has a closer connection with the ecosystem project teams.

During Ethereum's development, the relationship between the developer team and ecosystem projects was relatively distant, lacking a clear supportive attitude. When the price of ETH fell from $1,400 to $80 in 2018, the entire chain had almost no applications running, and many readers know the subsequent story: the support from grassroots DeFi teams and miners saved Ethereum.

The Ethereum Foundation did not provide special support or recognition for these contributions but focused on advancing Layer 2 and PoS. While this ensured continuity in the technical roadmap, it also somewhat limited the diversification of ecological infrastructure development.

From a certain perspective, Ethereum's success stems from the smart contract functionality developed by the Ethereum developer team and the first batch of grassroots DeFi teams; both are indispensable.

In contrast, during the early development of the Move ecosystem, the infrastructure team actively supported various applications and developers within the community, particularly in areas such as development tools, funding support, and resource sharing, reflecting a more cooperative and win-win relationship. This relationship not only strengthened community cohesion but also laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Move ecosystem.

At the same time, the Move ecosystem demonstrates a stronger market orientation. Notably, the Movement project, as the only solution in the Move ecosystem with a positioning similar to Ethereum Layer 2, reflects the Move ecosystem's keen grasp of market demands.

Movement is not constrained by the technical decisions of a centralized organization; it can respond to market feedback and provide Move infrastructure products that meet market needs. Unlike Ethereum, which has oscillated between Beam and Layer 2 choices.

In the long run, this market-oriented technical development path of the Move ecosystem may be more conducive to nurturing a vibrant innovation environment.

It allows technological upgrades to respond more directly to the needs of users and developers, rather than being limited by the established plans of a centralized institution. This characteristic also enables the Move ecosystem to exhibit greater adaptability and development potential in the rapidly changing blockchain market.

Evolution of Move

The development of the Move infrastructure ecosystem can be divided into three stages.

The first stage, in 2019, saw Facebook (now Meta) aiming to create a global digital currency through the Libra/Diem project and develop a new programming language, Move, to ensure the security of smart contracts. Due to U.S. policy reasons, the project was terminated in 2022, which also shelved the first commercial application of the Move language.

In the second stage, following the termination of the Diem project, two Move Layer 1 public chains, Aptos and Sui, were successively born. These projects were founded by former members of the Libra/Diem team, aiming to continue developing and bringing the innovative concepts of the Libra/Diem project to market.

Aptos was founded by former Diem executives Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, and its mainnet went live in October 2022. Aptos aims for high performance and low latency, attracting developer attention and rapidly accumulating substantial capital support through the use of the Move language and a unique consensus protocol.

In contrast, Sui was founded by another group of former Diem team members, with core members from Mysten Labs. Sui's mainnet launched in May 2023, positioning itself as a modular and scalable high-performance public chain.

Sui is also based on the Move language but has further expanded upon it, enhancing concurrent processing capabilities and developing richer developer tools to improve the development experience and efficiency.

Both projects inherit the technical foundation of Libra/Diem and, based on the Move language, have successfully established new ecosystems in the blockchain field through their unique technologies and market strategies. The rise of these projects marks a new vitality for the legacy of Libra/Diem in the new public chain ecosystem, continuing the original intention of promoting blockchain technology development.

The birth of Aptos and Sui not only represents the team's continued exploration of the unfinished business of the original project but also signifies the resurgence of the Move language as the next-generation smart contract language in the blockchain field, showcasing its advantages in high security and developer friendliness. The interest and investment from institutions in these projects also reflect the market's high recognition of the potential of this ecosystem and the Move language.

In the third stage, Movement Labs further advances the vision of Libra/Diem by launching the Movement Network, a modular Move blockchain infrastructure with high TPS and fast finality.

The timing of Movement's creation is noteworthy. After the initial excitement surrounding Aptos and Sui subsided, the Move ecosystem was relatively sluggish, with both Sui and Aptos at a temporary low point, and the prospects for the Move track were filled with uncertainty.

It was precisely at this time, in September 2023, that Movement Labs announced the completion of a $3.4 million Pre-Seed round of financing. The addition of these investors not only proves institutional confidence in the Move ecosystem but also indirectly endorses the capabilities of the Movement team.

Movement secured $38 million in funding led by Polychain in April of this year and received investment from Binance Labs in May, gaining significant momentum and popularity.

From the development history of Move, it is evident that the Move ecosystem's early attitude towards DeFi and miners differs from that of the Ethereum Foundation.

The Move infrastructure team actively supports innovative projects and developers within the ecosystem, forming a highly cohesive developer ecosystem through funding support, technical tools, and community building. This comprehensive support has allowed the Move ecosystem to accumulate a large number of developers and users in a short time, gradually becoming the new favorite for smart contract development.

The Rising Star of Move: Movement Network

Within the Move ecosystem, the positioning of the Movement Network is strategically significant. Unlike Layer 1 public chains such as Aptos and Sui, Movement does not compete with them but plays a key bridging role within the Move ecosystem through its unique modular architecture.

As a rising star in the field of Move ecosystem infrastructure, the Movement Network is injecting new vitality into the development of the Move ecosystem with its innovative technical architecture.

The network consists of three core components: the Move Executor, the Fast Finality Settlement Module, and the Decentralized Shared Sequencer, collectively building a high-performance, secure, and interoperable infrastructure platform.

In terms of technical architecture, Movement's innovation lies in successfully achieving deep integration of the Move language with the EVM ecosystem.

The Move Executor of Movement, as the core component of the Movement-SDK, implements dual support for MoveVM and EVM bytecode.

This dual compatibility not only allows developers to fully leverage the advanced features of the Move language but also maintains compatibility with existing Ethereum applications. By integrating the parallel execution capabilities of MoveVM with the existing EVM interpreter, the Move Executor achieves a good balance between compatibility and scalability.

Developers can take full advantage of the Move language while maintaining Ethereum settlement. Notably, Movement supports the simultaneous execution of Move code from both Aptos and Sui, an innovative architecture known as "Move-EVM" (MEVM), providing developers with unprecedented flexibility.

In terms of transaction settlement, the Fast Finality Settlement Module employs an innovative staking verification mechanism.

Compared to traditional zk-rollups and optimistic rollups, the Movement Network achieves second-level transaction finality without the need for expensive proof generation devices, significantly reducing latency and optimizing user experience. This module ensures network security by having validators stake assets, enhancing transaction processing efficiency while ensuring the security of the cryptoeconomic model.

These technological innovations make Movement a highly promising infrastructure project within the Move ecosystem, providing solid technical support for the widespread application of the Move language and ecological development.

The current macro environment is also very favorable for Movement's narrative. As the U.S. regulatory environment shifts to a more friendly stance towards the crypto industry, it is foreseeable that more enterprises will venture into the Web3 space, similar to the last bull market.

As a programming language specifically designed for enterprise-level use by Facebook, Move is likely to become the preferred choice for these enterprises. Especially considering the strict requirements for system sovereignty, public chains like Aptos/Sui cannot meet enterprises' needs for sovereignty support. Movement, as the only modular solution currently in the Move ecosystem, is increasingly highlighting its strategic value.

Through the open-source Movement SDK, enterprises can deploy their own rollups, maintaining complete control over their systems while enjoying the infrastructural advantages of the Ethereum ecosystem and the Move language.

Conclusion

Looking back at the development of Web2, it is not difficult to find a direct positive correlation between development convenience and application quality. Aptos, Sui, and Movement are bringing this experience into the Web3 space, collectively promoting the prosperous development of the Move ecosystem through different technical routes and innovative solutions.

The narrative of Move is being continued by Movement, and it is likely to surpass the original vision of the Libra project.

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