Inventory of new public chains based on Move language and the investment opportunities behind them

Author: Xiao Niu, Bibi News

TL;DR

1. The Move language features programming assets as first-class citizens, security, flexibility, and composability;
2. The public chain ecosystem adopting the Move language is still in its early stages, with limited interaction options;
3. Several well-known investment institutions have made early investments in public chains with Meta backgrounds, and traditional financial institutions are entering the space;
4. Based on the ecological expansion, testnet progress, and valuations of Aptos and Sui, it is necessary to continuously monitor the future trends and market performance of both.

The Move language is a programming language developed by Meta (formerly Facebook) specifically designed for digital assets.

Its features include programming assets as first-class citizens, security, flexibility, and composability, providing excellent options for DeFi and NFT project developers and offering more imagination for project development.

Among the new batch of public chains, Aptos and Sui are using the Move programming language as a selling point, with the security and flexibility of the Move programming language becoming one of the main advantages of the new public chains.

Currently, the most popular public chains using the Move programming language are Aptos, Sui, and Starcoin, all of which are relatively advanced in development progress and ecosystem.

However, overall, public chains adopting the Move language are still in the early stages of development, with the ecosystem rapidly expanding, but the number of mature projects within the ecosystem is still limited. Users need to observe for a while longer before engaging in interactions.

Aptos and Sui, backed by Meta, have received investments from several well-known investment institutions.

a16z, Franklin Templeton, Tiger Global, FTX Ventures, and others are all part of the investment lineup.

Although both are still in early development, institutions have already recognized the potential opportunities of Move language public chains and are making early investments.

The appeal of the Move language to developers largely stems from its technical characteristics. To attract users, public chains using the Move language need not only a new narrative but also to focus on value capture, ecosystem building, and user experience.

Features of the Move Language

Move is a programming language developed by Meta (formerly Facebook) for its stablecoin project Diem (formerly Libra). The vision of Diem is to serve as a global digital native currency, combining stability, low inflation, global acceptance, and interchangeability. This vision determines that Move is a programming language born for finance.

The main features of Move are as follows:

1. Programming assets as first-class citizens (First-class Resources)
2. Ensuring security through static calls, virtual machine sandboxes, etc.
3. Verifiability
4. Flexibility
5. Composability of contracts

(1) Programming Assets as First-class Citizens (First-class Resources)

The Move language defines digital assets through Resources. In the Move language, digital assets are represented and stored by specially defined code/resource/.

The Move language abstracts four properties of resources: copyability, indexability, disposability, and storability. Through different combinations of these four properties, users can easily define any type of resource.

Move stipulates that resources will be stored in modules controlled by the owner's account, with verified owners represented as /signers/. The owners of these resources have the highest decision-making power, and only the owners can decide on the storage and transfer of resources.

The design of resources ensures that the transfer of digital assets is not a simple addition or subtraction of balance numbers between accounts, but rather a movement between storage locations, avoiding reentrancy and double-spending attacks.

Reentrancy and double-spending attacks are common types of hacker attacks. Reentrancy refers to hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in the project's transfer model to create malicious contracts that call the project’s transfer function again while accepting transfers, continuously siphoning off funds without changing the account balance. Double-spending attacks are easier to understand, as they involve completing payments multiple times with the same amount of money.

The design of resources ensures that digital assets only transfer between storage locations, avoiding reentrancy. It does not create or destroy digital assets out of thin air, thus preventing double-spending attacks.

(2) Ensuring Security through Static Calls, Virtual Machine Sandboxes, etc.

The Move language uses static calls, which means that when program A calls program B, the called object is determined before execution and does not change during operation.

Static calls enhance operational security. In dynamic calls, malicious users can create malicious contracts to call project functions, thus completing attacks. Static calls solve the problems associated with dynamic calls and enhance the stability of network operations.

The Move VM is the virtual machine sandbox for the Move programming language. The virtual sandbox provides determinism for blockchains using the Move language, with contract calls placed in the same sandbox. During this process, the security of the contract's state is primarily isolated through the internal security of the programming language rather than relying on the virtual machine for isolation.

(3) Verifiability

The Move programming language employs formal verification. In simple terms, formal verification is a method of proving the security of a program using digital tools. The previously mentioned static calls and virtual machine sandboxes can enhance verification security.

(4) Flexibility

The flexibility of Move is reflected in its ability to freely combine various transactions through transaction scripts to achieve different functionalities, with one script able to call multiple transactions.

Move ensures the extensibility of contracts through generic programming, increasing the reusability of code. (Note: Generic programming is a programming style focused on designing algorithms and their data structures, allowing these algorithms and data structures to be applied in the most general environments without sacrificing efficiency.)

(5) Composability of Contracts

The composability of contracts in the Move language stems from its Module design. Upgrading and optimizing Modules allows all other contracts that have used this Module to automatically use the latest version, accelerating the speed of upgrading and optimizing smart contracts using the Move language.

Modules provide a unified compatibility space for these smart contracts, allowing them to be combined like LEGO pieces to create new products.

Public Chains Developed Using the Move Language

According to documentation written by the Sui development team, MystenLabs, there are currently four public chains that have adopted the Move language: Aptos, Sui, Starcoin, and 0L Network.

Currently, Starcoin and 0L Network have launched their mainnets, while Aptos and Sui are still in the testnet phase.

This section will introduce Aptos, Sui, Starcoin, and 0L Network.

Aptos

1. Introduction

Aptos is a high-performance public chain created by former Meta engineers, utilizing the Move programming language and focusing on security, scalability, and upgradability.

Aptos aims to create universal and fair decentralized assets for billions of people, which is highly similar to the vision of the stablecoin project Diem.

In the "The Genesis of Aptos" published by the Aptos founder on February 24 this year, it was mentioned that Aptos did not start from scratch; the Move language used by Aptos is a product of the Diem development process. The developers of Aptos include members of the founding team and core developers of Diem, and the team's vision for Aptos is highly correlated with that of Diem, making the development of Aptos a continuation of the Diem project to some extent.

2. Team Situation

Many core team members of Aptos have held important positions at Meta.

Aptos founder and CEO Mo Shaikh was responsible for strategic partnerships at Meta from May 2020 to December 2021.

Aptos founder and CTO Avery Ching served as Chief Software Engineer at Meta for over 10 years and was the technical lead for Meta's crypto platform Novi.

Aptos software engineer David Wolinsky was the Web3 technology lead at Meta and before joining Novi, he was the technical lead/manager at Meta responsible for advertising growth.

3. Development Progress

Aptos launched its developer testnet in March this year, allowing developers to build applications on Aptos. Subsequently, Aptos launched Incentivized Testnet 1 (AIT1) and Incentivized Testnet 2 (AIT2) on May 14 and July 1, respectively, attracting developers and users.

According to Aptos' latest roadmap, the third incentivized testnet (AIT3) will run from August 30 to September 9, focusing on governance and upgrades. AIT3 is the last testnet before the mainnet launch, which is scheduled for this fall.

（Aptos Roadmap）

4. Ecosystem Development

The Aptos ecosystem is rapidly expanding. In an article titled "Announcing the Aptos Grant Program" published on June 29, Aptos mentioned that over 100 projects have been deployed on Aptos since the launch of the developer testnet.

Currently, there are more than 60 publicly available projects, covering categories such as wallets, DEX, NFTs, Launchpads, and liquidity protocols. Most projects are still in the testnet or not yet launched.

5. Financing Situation

Aptos completed two rounds of financing this year, raising a total of $350 million. Investment institutions include FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, a16z, Multicoin Capital, Circle Ventures, Tiger Global, and others.

The financing features short intervals between rounds, large amounts raised, and a luxurious lineup of investment institutions.

Sui

1. Introduction

Sui is a Layer 1 blockchain built by Mysten Labs, founded by former Meta engineers, utilizing the Move programming language and focusing on high TPS and low latency. Sui aims to help developers provide a good experience for hundreds of millions of future Web3 users.

Sui does not set a TPS limit and has good scalability, reducing users' transaction costs. In tests conducted this March, Sui achieved a TPS of 120,000.

Through the Move programming language, Sui allows users' assets to be stored in accounts rather than on a smart contract, with the asset owner deciding on storage and transfer through signatures.

2. Team Situation

The development company of Sui is Mysten Labs, with founders including Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, and Sam Blackshear, all of whom participated in Diem and Novi at Meta.

3. Development Progress

Mysten Labs announced the launch of Sui on March 22 this year and launched Devnet in May, allowing developers to use the Sui network. As of July, over 5,000 nodes were running on Devnet.

This month, Sui will launch its incentivized testnet, and registration for the incentivized testnet has already begun. According to the testnet roadmap, the testnet will be divided into multiple waves, with three themes already determined: network, staking, and upgrades.

4. Ecosystem Development

Currently, there are 8 publicly available projects, covering categories such as wallets, NFTs, blockchain games, and the metaverse. Based on the current project layout and Sui's solutions for gaming, NFTs and blockchain games are expected to become distinctive segments of its ecosystem.

5. Financing Situation

Sui's development company, Mysten Labs, is completing at least $200 million in Series B financing at a valuation of $2 billion, with this round led by FTX Ventures. Previously, Mysten Labs completed $36 million in Series A financing in December last year, with investors including a16z, Coinbase Ventures, and Samsung NEXT.

6. Token

The total supply of SUI is 10 billion, which will be allocated to the founding team, investors, public sales, the Sui Foundation, and future releases. SUI has four functions: staking/protecting the network, transaction fees, governance, and account units/transaction intermediaries.

Starcoin

1. Introduction

Starcoin is a blockchain based on an enhanced PoW consensus mechanism and the Move programming language, providing solutions for DeFi, NFTs, and blockchain games through layered flexible interoperability.

Starcoin uses the Move language to establish secure digital asset protocols, including FT and NFT, providing mature formal verification tools to replace traditional contract audits, ensuring contract security and safeguarding users' on-chain assets.

Starcoin is a blockchain with Layer 2 scaling solutions, offering good scalability, secure and seamless state transfers, and easy and rapid data scaling, with low latency and good operability, set to provide a test network in September this year.

2. Development Progress

At the end of 2018, Starcoin released its first white paper, proposing a vision for building a scalable blockchain. In 2019, the Move language was officially launched, and that same year, Starcoin Layer 1 decided to adopt Move as its smart contract language and virtual machine.

On May 18, 2021, Starcoin launched its mainnet, becoming one of the earliest blockchain projects to adopt the Move language. The Starcoin mainnet has been running stably for over a year. Starcoin Layer 2 will provide a test network in September this year.

3. Ecosystem Development

The Starcoin ecosystem includes seven categories: wallets, CEX, DEX, mining pools, stablecoins, NFTs, and blockchain games.

The Starcoin ecosystem primarily revolves around STC, with STC being stored and transferred through wallets, traded through CEX and DEX, and mined directly through mining pools.

4. Token

The Starcoin economic white paper states that STC is the native token of Starcoin, with a total issuance of 3,185,136,000 STC, and the total supply is fixed.

The main uses of STC include:

1. Paying gas fees for transactions.
2. Paying for state space fees.
3. Voting for on-chain governance.

The token economic model of STC shows that the treasury is the center of the economic model, distributing block rewards to miners and allocating treasury funds to DAOs, with miners and DAOs investing STC into the ecosystem, and the on-chain ecosystem revenue ultimately returning to the treasury, achieving self-sustainability of the economic model.

0L Network

0L Network is an open, permissionless, community-managed Layer 1 blockchain. 0L Network emphasizes community management, with community members deciding the project's development path.

0L Network was launched on October 21, 2021, with a limit of 100 validating nodes. 0L Network states that considering the drawbacks of BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance), network throughput significantly declines after 100-120 nodes, hence the limit of 100 validating nodes.

Currently, 0L Network has not issued tokens and has no financing information.

Development Status of Public Chain Ecosystems

(1) Overall Ecosystem Development is in the Early Stages, with Many NFTs and Wallets

From the collected information, the number of ecosystem projects on Move language public chains is still relatively small.

According to currently available project information, the number of projects on the Aptos chain is between 60-70, the number of Sui ecosystem projects is 8, and the number of Starcoin ecosystem projects (excluding mining pools and centralized exchanges) is 11.

Currently, there are 27 usable applications in the Aptos ecosystem, of which 12 are native applications. The available applications are mainly wallets, infrastructure, and NFTs.

Currently, users on Aptos have limited options for interaction, primarily wallets, Liquidswap, and some NFT trading platforms.

The native projects launched in the Sui ecosystem include the domain project Sui Names, the wallet Sui Wallet, and the blockchain explorer Sui Explorer, focusing on infrastructure, with limited interaction options.

In the Starcoin ecosystem, NFTs and blockchain games stand out, with a relatively longer operational time within the ecosystem.

(2) Aptos Ecosystem Development is Leading

Aptos is in an absolute leading position in the competition among Move public chains. Aptos discloses new projects weekly, with the number of applications currently available exceeding 60-70, far surpassing other Move language public chain ecosystems.

The 27 available projects cover categories including DEX, wallets, DID, infrastructure, Launchpads, NFTs, and investment funds.

Among these categories, DEX, wallets, and NFTs are currently the most mature segments.

In the DEX category, Pontem Network launched the first AMM Liquidswap on the Aptos chain, which currently supports user interactions. The Solana-based DEX Solar Dex has been deployed on Aptos, marking an early project migrating from the Solana chain.

Wallets generated significant discussion during the first batch of projects disclosed by Aptos in July. The native wallet projects on the Aptos chain, Martian Wallet and Fewcha Wallet, are essential tools for user experience on Aptos.

Currently, the number of wallet projects in the Aptos ecosystem has increased to 6, with notable ones including Blocto and ComingChat, in addition to Martian Wallet and Fewcha Wallet.

In terms of NFTs, there are many new NFT projects in the Aptos ecosystem, primarily focusing on PFP NFTs. Due to the Move language's inherent friendliness towards NFT development, the speed of NFT project development on the Aptos chain is relatively fast.

Currently, the main NFT trading platform on the Aptos chain is Topaz, where users can use the Aptos ecosystem wallets Martian Wallet and Fewcha Wallet to obtain test tokens to purchase NFTs on Topaz.

Progress of Aptos and Sui Testnets

(1) Testnet Progress

1. Progress of the Aptos Testnet

Aptos has previously concluded Incentivized Testnets 1 and 2 (AIT1, AIT2).

Aptos Incentivized Testnet 1 (AIT1) started on May 14, with 100 participants. The theme of AIT1 was decentralized launch, with two success criteria:

① Successfully launching nodes and passing activity checks within 24 hours;

② Availability exceeding 95%.

Each successful participant received 500 Aptos tokens.

Aptos Incentivized Testnet 2 (AIT2) started on July 1 and ended on July 22, with the theme of staking. Over 225 community nodes participated in AIT2, distributed across 44 countries and 110 cities.

Each successful participant received 500 Aptos tokens. Additionally, the top 10% of voting nodes received an extra 200 Aptos tokens.

Aptos Incentivized Testnet 3 (AIT3) will run from August 30 to September 9, focusing on governance and upgrades. The success criteria are as follows:

① Successfully launching nodes and passing activity checks within 12 hours after node startup;

② Availability exceeding 97% for successful participation in standard network upgrades, with a 2-day response time;

③ Successfully participating in patch network upgrades, with a 12-hour response time;

④ Among the top 75% of consensus participants (consensus voting).

Each successful participant will receive 500 Aptos tokens, with the top three voting nodes receiving 5000, 2500, and 1000 Aptos tokens, respectively.

Incentivized Testnet 3 (AIT3) is the last testnet before the mainnet launch, which is scheduled for this fall. After the mainnet launch, AIT4 will focus on dynamic validator topology.

2. Progress of the Sui Testnet

Sui will launch its incentivized testnet this month, with registration for the incentivized testnet already open.

Incentives: The Sui Foundation will reward 2000 SUI tokens for each testnet "wave" that validators participate in. According to the roadmap, Sui's testnet has already determined three "waves," focusing on network, staking, and upgrades.

In addition, Sui has promised to provide up to 10% of the total SUI to the best-performing validators who continue to participate in the Sui mainnet.

(2) Node Deployment Evaluation (Difficulty Assessment, Participation, Rewards)

The participation method for the testnets of Aptos and Sui is to launch nodes, setting a relatively high threshold for user participation. The nodes run by users must meet the success criteria to receive rewards.

Taking Aptos AIT2 as an example, the theme of AIT2 was staking, and nodes eligible for staking must ensure a continuous increase in the amount staked within the node.

Success criteria include meeting the activity defined by metrics pushing data ≥95%, availability defined by consensus proposals ≥95% per hour, and at least 25% of voting results being consistent, imposing stringent requirements on node operation.

Therefore, if a newcomer wants to participate in the testnets of Aptos and Sui, it is advisable to seek assistance from those with successful operational experience in these network nodes or have them proxy the node operation.

The testnet progress of Aptos and Sui differs, with Aptos advancing to the third phase while Sui will launch its testnet this month. Thus, in terms of testnet operational experience and user participation, Aptos is ahead.

In terms of rewards, Aptos offers 500 Aptos tokens to participants meeting the success criteria at each stage, with more for outstanding participants.

Sui offers 2000 SUI tokens to participants meeting the success criteria at each stage. Currently, the prices of both tokens are not available, but in terms of token quantity, Sui has the advantage.

Investment Opportunities Behind the Move Language

(1) Layout of Well-known Investment Banks

Among the five public chains using the Move language, Aptos, Sui, and Pontem Network have disclosed financing information.

Aptos completed two rounds of financing this year, with investors in the March round including a16z, Tiger Global, and Multicoin Capital, and investors in the July round including FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, Griffin Gaming Partners, Franklin Templeton, and Circle Ventures.

The investment lineup for Aptos' two rounds of financing is very impressive, with a16z, Tiger Global, Multicoin Capital, and Jump Crypto being very active investors in the crypto industry over the past two years, often seen in the investment lineups of star projects.

The presence of Franklin Templeton in the investment lineup is noteworthy; Franklin Templeton is the largest publicly traded fund company, with nearly $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of May this year. Franklin Templeton launched a $20 million blockchain venture fund last year, and investing in Aptos can be seen as an exploration of its investments in the crypto industry.

The two rounds of financing for Sui's development company included investors such as a16z, Coinbase Ventures, Samsung NEXT, and FTX Ventures.

a16z and FTX Ventures participated in the financing of both Aptos and Sui, while Samsung NEXT is an early-stage startup accelerator of Samsung Electronics that has invested in blockchain projects like FTX, Axie Infinity, and Aleo in recent years, representing a relatively active traditional financial force in crypto financing. The investment institutions in Aptos and Sui indicate the layout of traditional financial institutions.

(2) Developers: The Characteristics of the Move Language Align Well with the Demand for DeFi, NFTs, and Other Products

Flex, the founder of 3NJOY Lab, shared his views on the Move language in "Why I Believe Move Will Ultimately Surpass Solidity." 3NJOY Lab operates NFT projects Wav3 and Souffl3 on the Aptos chain.

Flex stated: "Asset security, resource abstraction, and composability are all characteristics of Move at the language level. Overall, I believe it is the most suitable language for on-chain application development, as its features align well with the demands of DeFi, NFTs, and other products."

Guo Yu, founder of Anbi Labs Secbit, mentioned three reasons why he likes Move:

1. It draws on research achievements in the field of programming languages while also absorbing lessons from EVM smart contract languages;
2. It places immense emphasis on the security and correctness of smart contracts from the design perspective;
3. It does not stick to conventions (neither using WASM nor LLVM, nor directly modifying EVM), but actively innovates, making it a smart contract language truly suitable for financial applications.

The official documents from Aptos, Sui, and Starcoin also reflect considerations for choosing the Move language based on the factors mentioned above: security, composability, resource abstraction, compatibility with DeFi and NFTs, and the expressiveness of the language.

The advantages of the Move language over Solidity are bound to attract more developers to use the Move language for blockchain application development.

（Comparison of Move and Solidity, from Buidler DAO）

(3) Project and Ecosystem Development Prospects

The Move language has a high compatibility with DeFi and NFTs, and the first projects deployed in the ecosystems of public chains using the Move language are DeFi and NFT projects.

The types of DeFi projects are widely distributed, including liquidity protocols, DEX, lending, stablecoin protocols, etc. Although the number of ecosystem projects is still small, several DeFi categories already have applications.

NFTs and blockchain games have projects in the ecosystems of Aptos, Sui, and Starcoin, with a significant proportion. NFT trading platforms have already launched on the Aptos and Starcoin ecosystems, while the Sui ecosystem is also building the NFT trading platform Sui Gallery.

Currently, the main projects deployed in the Aptos and Sui ecosystems are primarily DeFi and NFT projects, while Starcoin's ecosystem projects focus on NFTs, blockchain games, stablecoins, and DEX segments.

The current recommendation for user interaction with the ecosystem is through DeFi applications and NFT trading platforms.

It is worth noting that based on the sources of non-native applications on the Aptos chain, applications from the Solana chain are currently migrating to the Aptos ecosystem, enhancing the correlation between the Solana and Aptos ecosystems. In the future, Solana developers may deploy smart contracts on other public chains using the Move language.

(4) Potential Alpha Returns

Currently, neither Aptos nor Sui has issued tokens, but the market has already valued both relatively high, with many well-known investment institutions participating in both projects.

The active layout of institutions in Aptos and Sui indicates that they see the potential Alpha returns behind the new public chains. The market expects that new public chains like Aptos and Sui will continue the narrative of new public chains and achieve or even surpass the return levels of public chains like Solana and Avalanche during bull markets.

From the currently published documents, it is still unclear what the value capture capabilities of the Aptos and Sui networks are, which is a question these public chains need to consider moving forward.

References
1. "A Comprehensive Analysis of the Public Chain Aptos: Opportunities and Challenges Under First-Mover Advantage" by CryptoJ
2. "The Strongest Competitor to Solidity: The Rise of the MOVE Language and New Public Chains" by Buidler DAO
3. "Why I Believe Move Will Ultimately Surpass Solidity" by Flex, Founder of 3NJOY Lab
4. "Developers' Hourly Rate of $1200? What Makes the Move Language Used by New Public Chains So Good?" by Figment Capital
5. "Developers' Hourly Rate Up to $1200? A Look into the Programming Charm of the Move Language!" by TinTinLand
6. "Move Language: The Biggest Highlight of Libra in My Eyes" by Anbi Labs SECBIT

Note: This article is not intended as investment advice.