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Sam Blackshear<\/b>, Co-founder and CTO of Mysten Labs and the creator of the Move programming language, announced on Thursday that he will be leaving Mysten Labs to join <\/span>Anthropic<\/b>, where he will work in defensive security research.<\/span><\/p>\n The move marks a notable leadership transition at Mysten Labs, the company tied to the Layer 1 blockchain Sui, while bringing one of the Move ecosystem\u2019s key engineers to AI security. On Anthropic\u2019s side, Blackshear\u2019s transition to defensive security research comes as the company expands its AI security efforts\u2014an increasingly critical domain as AI models are more widely used in software development and testing.<\/span><\/p>\n Blackshear confirmed his transition to Anthropic in a brief post on X, stating that he will work on defensive security research. He has not released further details regarding his official title, team, or starting date for the new role.<\/span><\/p>\n I am leaving Mysten Labs and joining Anthropic to work on defensive security research.<\/p>\n \u2014 Sam Blackshear (@b1ackd0g) August 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Blackshear is one of the most prominent technical figures associated with the Sui ecosystem. Before co-founding Mysten Labs, he worked at Meta on the Diem project, where he created <\/span>Move<\/b>\u2014a programming language designed for digital assets and smart contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n At Mysten, Blackshear served as Co-founder and CTO, and was one of five founding members alongside Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, Kostas Chalkias, and George Danezis. His move to Anthropic is therefore not just an individual career change, but also a shift for a key technical figure deeply tied to the Move and Sui story from the early days.<\/span><\/p>\n Shortly after Blackshear\u2019s announcement, <\/span>Evan Cheng<\/b> stated he would be \u201c<\/span>returning to my roots<\/b>\u201d by leading engineering teams and the research-to-engineering-to-product pipeline. Cheng added that, as CTO and CEO, he will be closer to the technical work and directly involved in operations.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a notable detail for the Sui community as it helps narrow the information gap following the departure of a founding CTO. Cheng is not only CEO of Mysten Labs but also a veteran engineer who previously served as Director of R&D at Meta\u2019s Novi Financial and earlier worked at Apple, where he contributed to the LLVM compiler infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n Cheng stepping into the dual role of CTO helps Mysten maintain continuity in technical leadership, at least during the transition period. Instead of appointing a new technical leader from the outside, Mysten currently has Cheng directly overseeing both corporate operations and technical direction.<\/span><\/p>\n Responses from Mysten\u2019s founding team signal a desire to maintain stability following Blackshear\u2019s announcement. <\/span>Adeniyi Abiodun<\/b>, Co-founder and CPO of Mysten Labs, congratulated Blackshear and expressed happiness for his colleague\u2019s next chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n Abiodun also noted that he will continue collaborating with Evan Cheng as Cheng steps into the CTO role, while referencing Kostas Chalkias and George Danezis within the team driving the company\u2019s next phase. For Mysten, this emphasizes that the remainder of the founding team remains actively involved in the transition.<\/span><\/p>\n Can\u2019t say enough nice things about @b1ackd0g<\/a>. Great friend, great colleague, and genuinely happy for his next chapter.<\/p>\n Super pumped to partner with @EvanWeb3<\/a> again as he steps in as CTO. He, @kostascrypto<\/a>, @GDanezis<\/a> and I are already executing hand in hand on what comes next for\u2026<\/p>\nSam Blackshear Confirms Move to Anthropic<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Evan Cheng Steps Back Into CTO Role<\/b><\/h2>\n
Mysten\u2019s Founders Signal Continuity<\/b><\/h2>\n
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