Overview
Movement Labs is a name shared by two distinct entities with different focuses and objectives:
- Movement Labs (Blockchain and Move Ecosystem):
- Focus: Creating a global community of Move builders to enhance security, performance, and user experience of decentralized networks.
- Key Projects:
- M2: The first MoveVM ZK Layer Two on Ethereum, offering low gas fees, high TPS, and decentralized sequencing.
- Move Open Builders Program: Bringing together developers, investors, and experts.
- Mission: Democratize and decentralize the growth of the Move programming language across the modular blockchain ecosystem.
- Vision: Build open-source tooling, frameworks, and protocols to expand Move language use, with a multi-phase roadmap.
- Movement Labs (Nonprofit Technology Consultant):
- Focus: Using peer-to-peer texting to promote left-of-center activist organizations and political candidates.
- Key Programs:
- Contest Every Race
- COVID response programs
- De-radicalization initiatives
- Grassroots Abortion Defense Fellowship
- Grassroots Gun Reform Grant
- Partnerships: Collaborates with organizations like Black Voters Matter, UltraViolet, and the Declaration for American Democracy.
- Funding: Receives support from various left-of-center PACs and organizations. This overview highlights the distinct nature and objectives of these two entities sharing the Movement Labs name, emphasizing their separate focuses in blockchain technology and political activism, respectively.
Leadership Team
Movement Labs' leadership team drives the organization's strategic vision, decision-making, and operations. Key members include: Founders and Executives:
- Cooper Scanlon: Cofounder
- Rushi Manche: Cofounder
- Yoni (Yonatan) Landau: Chief Executive Officer and Owner (Note: This role may have been updated) Other Leadership Roles:
- Will Gaines: Head and Founding Marketing
- Brian Hennessey-Hsieh: Head of Strategy
- Liam Monninger: Founding member (specific role not detailed) The leadership team is responsible for:
- Overseeing digital organizing services
- Managing research initiatives
- Coordinating large-scale volunteer mobilization efforts
- Aligning organizational objectives with progressive values
- Leading data-driven and technologically advanced campaigns This diverse team collaboratively works to maximize the impact of Movement Labs' projects and initiatives, leveraging their expertise in technology, strategy, and digital organizing.
History
Movement Labs encompasses two distinct entities with separate histories:
- Movement Labs (Blockchain Development Team):
- Founded in 2022 by Cooper Scanlon and Rushi Manche, Gen Z tech entrepreneurs
- Mission: Enhance blockchain security and scalability, focusing on bringing Facebook's Move Virtual Machine to Ethereum
- Funding:
- $3.4 million pre-seed round (September 2023), led by Varys Capital
- $38 million Series A (April 2024), led by Polychain Capital
- Key Developments:
- Movement Zero-Knowledge Layer 2 blockchain
- Move Stack execution layer framework
- Movement SDK, including M1 (modular and scalable blockchain)
- Movement Labs (Nonprofit Technology Consultant):
- Originally founded as Resistance Labs in 2017, later rebranded
- Mission: Promote left-of-center activist organizations and political candidates using peer-to-peer texting and other technologies
- Funding: Received significant contributions during election cycles:
- 2018: $138,105
- 2020: $576,477
- 2022: $218,089
- Sources include Democratic Party candidates, PACs, and left-of-center organizations
- Key Programs:
- Contest Every Race coalition
- COVID response program
- De-radicalization initiatives
- Partnerships: Collaborates with organizations like Black Voters Matter, UltraViolet, and the Declaration for American Democracy These entities operate independently, with the blockchain team focusing on technological innovation and the nonprofit consultant concentrating on political activism and social welfare.
Products & Solutions
Movement Labs is at the forefront of blockchain technology advancement, particularly through its focus on the Move programming language and layer-2 solutions on Ethereum. Here are the key products and solutions they're developing:
- Layer-2 Blockchain Solution on Ethereum: A fast finality rollup or sidechain solution aimed at enhancing blockchain accessibility, speed, and user-friendliness. It utilizes the Move programming language and maintains compatibility with Ethereum's ecosystem.
- Move Virtual Machine (MVM): The first MVM for Ethereum, designed to increase security, performance, and user experience of blockchain applications. It's integrated with Celestia for data availability, promising subsecond finality and gas fees under $0.01.
- M2: MoveVM ZK Layer Two on Ethereum: A specific MVM implementation, described as the first parallelized Move-EVM. It boasts theoretical transaction processing speeds over 160,000 TPS and decentralized sequencer enabling subsecond finality.
- Move Stack: An execution layer framework that can integrate with other Ethereum rollups like Optimism, Polygon, and Arbitrum, expanding the interoperability and reach of the MVM across different blockchain networks.
- Move Collective Accelerator Program: Supports promising projects within the Movement ecosystem, offering mentorship, networking opportunities, strategic partnerships, and resources for funding and development.
- Community and Ecosystem Development: The Move Open Builders Program fosters a global community of Move builders, bringing together developers, investors, and experts to enhance decentralized applications built on the Move ecosystem. Movement Labs has secured significant funding, including a $38 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital and a forthcoming $100 million Series B round co-led by CoinFund and Nova Fund. These funds are being used for product development, team expansion, and scaling operations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
Core Technology
Movement Labs is pioneering blockchain innovation through its focus on the Move smart contract language and several key technologies:
- MoveVM and Move Programming Language:
- Centered around the Move language, originally developed for Facebook's Diem project.
- Designed for secure smart contract and transaction data handling, eliminating common attack vectors.
- Introduces resource-centric digital asset management, ensuring clear ownership and immutability.
- Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM):
- Native execution environment for Move-based blockchains.
- Leverages parallelism for faster transaction execution and greater efficiency.
- Emphasizes resource-oriented programming and strong safety guarantees.
- Ensures assets are treated as unique, non-duplicable resources.
- M1 and M2 Frameworks:
- M1: Decentralized sorter layer using Snowman consensus, providing high sorting throughput.
- M2: First Move Layer-2 on Ethereum, supporting Move and Solidity smart contracts.
- Movement SDK:
- Comprehensive, modular development kit for the M2 rollup structure.
- Includes MoveVM, Fractal (for Solidity compatibility), and custom adaptors.
- Enhances blockchain integration and interoperability.
- AggLayer Integration:
- Partnership with Polygon Labs to integrate MoveVM-based Layer-2 chains.
- Unifies liquidity and user bases across aggregated chains.
- Enables secure cross-chain transactions and project growth across connected chains.
- Interoperability and Scalability:
- Bridges Move and EVM ecosystems, allowing deployment of Solidity contracts on Move-based chains.
- Integrates MoveVM with EVM for security and compatibility.
- Uses Celestia for data availability and develops ZK-rollup based on Move. These technologies position Movement Labs as a leader in blockchain innovation, particularly in security, interoperability, and scalability.
Industry Peers
Movement Labs operates in two distinct contexts, each with different industry peers:
- Blockchain and Technology Company: As a blockchain startup focused on developing a layer-2 blockchain integrating Ethereum with the Move programming language, Movement Labs' industry peers and competitors include:
- New Relic: Cloud-based software for website and application performance tracking.
- ThoughtData: Unified IT monitoring across performance metrics and cyber threats.
- Catchpoint Systems: Real-time analytics for end-to-end performance of internet services.
- Appedo: Application performance management (APM) and analytics for software applications.
- DataSunrise: Data and database security specialist.
- Cloudwise: Cloud APM and IT business monitoring software solutions.
- Blue Triangle Technologies: Digital experience optimization.
- Riverbed: IT solutions for secure digital experiences and enterprise performance.
- Cyanea Systems: Cloud-based enterprise application performance monitoring. These companies are involved in various aspects of technology, cybersecurity, and performance optimization, which align with Movement Labs' focus on blockchain and technology solutions.
- Nonprofit Technology Consultant: In its former role as Resistance Labs, Movement Labs operated as a left-of-center nonprofit technology consultant. In this context, its peers and partners were more aligned with political and social activism:
- Black Voters Matter
- UltraViolet
- The Declaration for American Democracy
- Progressive Turnout Project
- MoveOn Political Action
- Service Employees International Union This dual context demonstrates Movement Labs' versatility and its ability to apply technological innovations across different sectors and purposes.