The competition in the blockchain space is heating up as Movement Labs, a San Francisco software development team, has secured $38 million in funding for their layer 2 Ethereum blockchain project. Polychain Capital, led by Olaf Carlson-Wee, led the Series A funding round, with other investors like Hack VC, dao5, and Robot Ventures also participating.
This funding round comes on the heels of other companies raising substantial amounts for new blockchain projects. Monad Labs raised $225 million for their layer 1 blockchain, while Berachain secured a $100 million Series B funding for their own layer 1 development.
The increase in funding for blockchain projects reflects a resurgence in crypto-focused venture investments. However, it also highlights the growing competition in the industry as companies strive to create the next big blockchain platform to rival Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Movement Labs aims to differentiate itself by building the first layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum using Move, a programming language originally developed by Facebook for their stablecoin project, Diem. Co-founders Rushi Manche and Cooper Scanlon believe that by bringing Move to Ethereum, they can provide users with enhanced security and performance.
The company plans to launch its devnet soon and aims to roll out its mainnet in late summer or early fall. They also intend to introduce their own token, tentatively named Move.
The proliferation of new blockchains may seem excessive to some, but developers have been facing challenges with speed and cost on existing blockchains like Ethereum. Layer 2 solutions and new layer 1 blockchains like Solana have emerged to address these issues, but congestion problems persist.
Aptos and Sui, two recently launched blockchains, sought to leverage Move and its Move Virtual Machine for improved performance. However, they struggled to build a strong community around their platforms. In contrast, Movement Labs is building on Ethereum while utilizing the Move programming language and Move Virtual Machine. They are also developing Move Stack, a tool that will make the Move Virtual Machine accessible to other blockchain networks.
The company’s strategy is to attract developers with the user-friendly Move language while keeping them connected to the Ethereum community. By bringing the language developed by Facebook to Ethereum, Movement Labs aims to provide a seamless and intuitive experience for developers looking to build on the blockchain.