# Sam Blackshear

> Sam Blackshear is the creator of the Move programming language and a co-founder and former CTO of Mysten Labs, the company behind Sui. Trained in programming languages and static analysis, he designed Move to give digital assets explicit rules for ownership and transfer. In August 2026 he announced a move to Anthropic for defensive security research while remaining an adviser to Mysten and Sui builders.

- **Role:** Defensive security research at Anthropic; adviser to Mysten Labs
- **Organizations:** Anthropic, Mysten Labs, Meta, Sui
- **Education:** PhD in programming languages / computer science, University of Colorado Boulder, BA in computer science and philosophy, Williams College
- **Known for:** Created the Move programming language for the Libra/Diem project at Meta., Co-founded Mysten Labs and helped shape the Move-based Sui blockchain., Co-authored research on resource safety in smart-contract programming.

## Career timeline

- **2010–2015** — Studied programming languages and static analysis at the University of Colorado Boulder, completing a PhD.
- **2015–2021** — Worked at Facebook/Meta, later as a principal engineer; created Move within the Libra/Diem project.
- **2021** — Co-founded Mysten Labs with Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, George Danezis and Kostas Chalkias.
- **2022** — Introduced Sui and discussed its object-centric adaptation of Move.
- **2023** — Sui mainnet launched; Blackshear remained CTO at Mysten Labs.
- **2025** — Wrote about the Sui Prover and formal verification for Move smart contracts.
- **2026-04** — Hosted a discussion on AI and smart-contract security.
- **2026-08** — Announced departure from Mysten Labs to join Anthropic for defensive security research; said he would remain an adviser to Mysten and Sui builders.

## Achievements

- Created the Move programming language for the Libra/Diem project at Meta.
- Co-founded Mysten Labs and helped shape the Move-based Sui blockchain.
- Co-authored research on resource safety in smart-contract programming.
- Advocated formal verification and wrote about the Sui Prover.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Announced that he was leaving Mysten Labs and joining Anthropic for defensive security research; said he would advise Mysten and Sui builders and hoped to stay involved with a planned Move Foundation.
- **2026-04** — Hosted a panel on AI-assisted smart-contract security and described porting a static analyzer to Move with AI.
- **2025-05** — Published an article on the Sui Prover and formal verification for Move contracts.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-blackshear-599b3965
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/b1ackd0g
- GitHub: https://github.com/sblackshear

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sam-blackshear
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-29