Interview with Rushi, Founder of Movement: Collaborating with National Chiao Tung University to nurture developers, mobile devices and Gen Z are key to widespread applications.

Last week, Binance Blockchain interviewed 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 roll up. We also talked about some Easter eggs in the testnet and inquired about the details of their collaboration with Tsinghua University, as well as their future development direction.

Origin of Movement: Combining EVM, Move, and Ethereum's Advantages

Conducted in the media room at the main venue, Coca-Cola Arena, we first discussed Rushi's previous experience with the Move language and inquired about his feelings towards the main languages in terms of developer experience (DX).

Neo: You founded the educational project Ensemble and worked at Aptos. Could you briefly introduce yourself and your journey? How did you come across the Move language, and what prompted you to establish Movement?

Rushi: Yes, I am 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 using Move to build applications 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, thus founding Movement. Movement is a combination of EVM, Move, and Ethereum, incorporating the advantages of these platforms.

Neo: Some say that 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 believe EVM has two main characteristics. The Move language places great emphasis on security. With over $45 billion lost annually due to hacker attacks, Move focuses on security and stability. Additionally, we also prioritize parallelism and high throughput execution to avoid conflicts between transactions.

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Why are other projects airdropping at their peak? Rushi: The key lies in the belief and cohesion of the community

Next, we asked Rushi why he chose Stake Rollup, which is different from the mainstream approach. At the same time, we were curious about how Movement plans to attract users and break away from the downward trend post-airdrop.

Neo: Unlike typical zk-rollups or optimistic rollups, Movement uses stake rollup, which seems to draw inspiration from Proof of Stake or the staking mechanism of oracles. Can you explain the concept of stake rollup? Why choose stake rollup over zk or optimistic?

Rushi: It is actually a form of optimistic rollup, but we have what we call pre-confirmations or post-confirmations. This allows some transactions on Layer 2 to achieve quick determinacy. Compared to traditional confirmations that take hours or even days, transactions can be completed within seconds.

The author's note: The concept of pre-confirmations involves temporary confirmations by nodes before transactions are officially added to the blockchain. Through this mechanism, users can pay additional fees to ensure their transactions are executed in the next block. If the proposer fails to fulfill the pre-confirmed transaction, they may be penalized. This mechanism is not only applicable to L1 transactions but can also provide the same pre-confirmation guarantee for L2 transactions if applied to Layer 2.

Neo: There are already hundreds of Layer 2 solutions in the market, many of which have faded after the airdrop. How does Movement stand out? How does it continue to develop its ecosystem post-airdrop?

Rushi: We have a community that truly supports Movement and believes in the system. Because we use MoveVM, we have many developers and applications that cannot be found on other EVMs or Ethereum. Movement aims to make an impact and foster active development in the ecosystem.

Neo: By combining the Move language and EVM, Movement seems more attractive to developers. What features of Movement can attract users?

Rushi: There are two key points. First is security; Movement ensures that DeFi applications and on-chain users are not susceptible to hacker attacks. Second is speed; we offer low gas fees and efficient transaction experiences similar to Solana and Aptos.

Imagine the security of Move, the stability of Ethereum, and the user experience of Solana combined

Neo: As a fan of Sui, I am looking forward to Movement's goals. The next question is, the testnet seems to have a storyline, including the roles of creators and explorers, which is interesting. Can you share the reason for this design?

Rushi: Yes, most testnets are quite boring, focusing on a single function. Our testnet is designed more like a game, a full-chain MMO where you can try different applications, use various testnet features, earn rewards and points, and even compete with friends. You can think of it as a game where you can form guilds and acquire different artifacts, which can be very helpful for your development.

Neo: So it's somewhat like a social game? Rushi: Yes.

Neo: There are 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 built-in cross-chain bridging. We believe in a multi-chain universe, so we have a shared sequencer to unify states 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 the vision for Movement? In other words, what problems does Movement solve?

Rushi: Movement is the fastest and most secure Layer 2. Currently, Ethereum's EVM Layer 2 is somewhat uninteresting and slow, while Movement aims to become the fastest and most secure Layer 2 on Ethereum. EVM is currently not as fast as Solana, so we aim to bring Solana's user experience to Ethereum.

Mass adoption will erupt from Gen Z, Movement breaks barriers with mobile devices

We then discussed common issues in the industry with Rushi, such as the lack of breakout topics like NFTs, resulting in the overall market becoming a PVP arena for insider funds. Rushi provided relatively specific solutions that are already in progress for this issue. We also touched on the emergence of meme coins on Movement, a topic closely related to Rushi's mention of Gen Z.

Neo: Web3 currently faces many infrastructure challenges but lacks new topics that can attract Web2 funds. What kind of applications do you think can attract new users? Additionally, 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 Up Phone, a mobile DePin phone that allows users to support on-chain activities with a dedicated mobile device. Additionally, we have Sentiment, a chain-based interactive device similar to a wristband, along with many social and consumer applications. I believe the next wave of adoption will come from young people in Gen Z who use platforms like webtoons, TikTok, Instagram, etc.

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Neo: I thought of SocialFi Movewiffrens, much like Twitter on Movement.

Rushi: Exactly.

Neo: Many people are currently discussing meme coins. What are your thoughts on the relationship between meme coins and Movement? I saw the first meme coin Courage Dog on Movement this morning.

Rushi: I believe meme coins will be very popular on Movement because of our low transaction fees, fast speed, and the authority of Ethereum. Courage and Nova are among the first meme coins in the market, and more meme coins will be launched in the future.

Collaborating with NCTU to Cultivate Movers, Focusing on the Asian Region in the Future

Finally, we discussed Movement's recent collaborations, especially with Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University (NCTU). We also talked about the specific areas and roadmap for Movement's implementation.

Neo: Recently, Movement partnered with Gate to establish a fund. Could you introduce the main investment direction of this fund?

Rushi: We primarily invest in the Move ecosystem, including DeFi applications, lending applications, DePin applications, etc. We will allocate a significant amount of capital to meet these needs.

Neo: Movement announced a collaboration with National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Could you share the background story of this collaboration? Or how did this collaboration begin?

Rushi: I, along with Cooper Cooper Scanlon, co-founder of Movement Labs, both met at Vanderbilt University and were involved in a part of Movement during our time at university. One of our goals is to help more students and young people enter the crypto field. We collaborate with developers at National Chiao Tung University to help them learn and develop in the Move language, as well as assist in launching accelerator and incubator projects.

Neo: When this collaboration was announced, I was at NCTU, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Rushi: Oh, really? Are you a student at NCTU?

Neo: No, but I was visiting a friend there.

Neo: Lastly, does Movement have any specific regions it wants to focus on in the future? For example, Aptos and Sui have connections to the Asian region, and Movement also sponsored last month's Korea Blockchain Week.

Rushi: We will pay special attention to South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and mainland China.

Neo: It's been a valuable conversation discussing Movement's vision with you! Thank you very much! Hopefully, we'll see you again soon, and let's "Move to the Moon" together!