San Francisco-based blockchain development firm Movement Labs has received a strategic investment from Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The exact amount of the investment remains undisclosed. This backing from Binance Labs comes on the heels of Movement Labs’ recent announcement of a $38 million Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital.
Movement Labs is on a mission to establish an ecosystem of modular Move-based blockchains, commencing with “M2” — a Move Virtual Machine Layer 2 tailored for Ethereum, as outlined in a statement provided to The Block.
The funding infusion from Binance Labs will be instrumental in fueling Movement’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region and accelerating the adoption of the Move programming language across diverse blockchain ecosystems. The company intends to achieve this by enhancing open-source tools for developers, facilitating the deployment of Move VM rollups with greater ease.
Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, expressed gratitude for Binance Labs’ support and highlighted the invaluable expertise they bring to the table. He emphasized the significance of their collaboration in executing Movement’s ambitious “Move Everywhere” strategy, with an initial focus on the dynamic and innovative APAC market. Manche underscored the goal of empowering and collaborating with talented Move developers in the region to drive adoption and unlock new opportunities for the ecosystem.
Movement’s Layer 2 solution is poised to extend the utilization of the Move programming language beyond existing platforms like Aptos and Sui Layer 1 blockchains. Originally crafted at Meta by a team from Facebook’s erstwhile Diem stablecoin project, Move is set to make waves in the broader blockchain landscape.
Additionally, Movement Labs is actively developing the Move Stack, an execution layer framework compatible with rollups such as Optimism, Polygon, and Arbitrum. The company is gearing up to launch its public testnet, Parthenon, in the coming weeks, with plans for a mainnet release by year’s end, as previously disclosed by Manche to The Block.
