Four Ex-Facebook Developers Join Forces to Build Future of Web3

“Some of our dreams couldn’t be realized at Facebook due to regulatory pressure or the company being unable to adopt cutting edge technology aggressively,” said Evan Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs

article-image

From left: Sam Blackshear, Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, Mysten Labs. Source: Mysten Labs

share

key takeaways

  • “We have high conviction that we made the right move,” Cheng said
  • Since leaving, the co-founders had “technical breakthroughs” that Cheng says they wouldn’t have had if they stayed at Meta

Fed up by the red tape of Big Tech, four former Facebook employees banded together and created a startup focused on Web3 and blockchain infrastructure. Now, they’re planning to launch a blockchain in the near future. 

The co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, Even Cheng, spent the last 16 years at tech companies, namely Apple and Facebook, now known as Meta. 

He and three other ex-Facebook employees — Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun and George Danezis — worked together on Meta’s Novi Financial team to help develop the Diem blockchain and Move programming language, a cross-platform smart contract language that helps developers secure against exploits.  

But they felt there were too many restrictions at their previous employer, so they turned to their own devices.

“Some of our dreams couldn’t be realized at Facebook due to regulatory pressure and the company being unable to adopt cutting edge technology aggressively,” Cheng said. “So, we thought about doing a startup because we’ve done work in the space and want to share it.” 

Mysten Labs partnered with 0L Network on Tuesday, an open, permissionless version of Diem’s blockchain, to expand the Move smart contract programming language. 

“We have high conviction that we made the right move,” Cheng said. “We are able to accelerate our development pace by an order of magnitude and make decisions faster as we’re free of the handcuffs that slowed us down.”

The startup was founded in November 2021, and a few months later Diem was sold for $200 million to Silvergate Capital Corp in late January. The firm focuses on building new blockchain infrastructure to scale the Web3 space. 

“We are building our own blockchain that will be comparable to Ethereum, Solana and so on, but we want the capability to go beyond that,” Cheng said. 

The blockchain will be launched in late March and will have a test net, beta net then go to mainnet later this year, he added. The company anticipates developer activity on-chain and building by April or May. 

Since leaving, the co-founders have had “technical breakthroughs” that Cheng says wouldn’t have happened at Meta. “We’re driving toward something concrete and able to come across fundamental solutions, even in a short amount of time,” he said.

Meta was not available for comment Tuesday. 

“A lot of it is continuing the research we started [at Meta] and bringing it to the marketplace,” Cheng said. “We need to overhaul the infrastructure because there’s interesting projects out there that aren’t having their needs met by current blockchain technology.”

Going forward, the company’s focus is on continuing to create solutions for “pain points” in blockchain technology through smart contract developments, utility-focused infrastructure for crypto assets and practical self custody, Cheng said.

“Changes by Web3 will happen sooner than people expect,” Cheng said. “Developers’ eyes light up as they discuss the possibilities with us and that’s tremendous.” 


Don’t miss the next big story – join our free daily newsletter.

Tags

Upcoming Events

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024. What you can expect: And more! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be in the room when the future of crypto is decided. Join us and help shape the future of our […]

recent research

Research report - cover graphics-2.jpg

Research

Base has doubled-down on its commitment to the Superchain vision, has shown early signs of success with nearly $400M in TVL, and has become home to novel dapps such as friend.tech which has seen significant traction.

article-image

The SEC, in a Friday court filing, said it reserves its right to object to the plan from Celsius

article-image

Largely unnoticed until Monday, stakeholder Justin Sun confirmed a $8 million hack in a tweet

article-image

Crypto is that perfect edge for candidates to use to gain votes and campaign dollars

article-image

Coinbase can offer crypto custody, crypto buying and selling and crypto trading as part of the registration

article-image

The latest industry scandal has rattled Hong Kong’s ambition to become a global crypto hub as its main financial regulator ramps up measures designed to protect investors

article-image

Coinbase holds about 5% of the total bitcoin in circulation, according to on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence