Adeniyi Abiodun tells the story of the founding of Mysten Labs: Building SUI on the ruins of Libra

Original Title: The Road to Sui: The Journey That Got Me Here

Original author: Adeniyi Abiodun; Mysten Labs

Original text compiled: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor’s note: Adeniyi Abiodun shares his personal experience in this article and discusses how these experiences led to the creation of Mysten Labs. His team is composed of a group of experts with rich experience in the blockchain field, especially in encryption algorithms and system construction, which has brought him great confidence. Mysten Labs also plans to develop a global storage layer and network infrastructure in the future, while continuing to work towards realizing the Sui vision.

The following is the original content (for ease of reading comprehension, the original content has been edited):

Picture this: your wife is in labor, your first child is about to be born, and you put all your savings into a risky project. It was a turning point in my life that eventually brought me together with some of the brightest minds in the industry to co-found Mysten Labs and created Sui.

The ‘Magic Internet Currency’ That Almost Ruined My Marriage

In 2012, I worked in the financial industry, and my life was monotonous. From waking up to leaving work, I could almost accurately tell you what would happen at every moment. I could even tell you which subway train I would take, what I would write, how to conduct tests, how to submit code, and what the trader would say after I improved the system, and then I would go home. Everything was so predictable.

But if you understand my way of thinking, you will know that this kind of certainty is not attractive to me. When everything is predictable, it feels inevitably boring, so I crave some uncertainty, something challenging, at least to make me feel that I can break through existing boundaries. It was then that I discovered Bitcoin (BTC).

At first, I read the BTC White Paper from a colleague, and at that time I felt that this thing was a bit like eyewash. I thought it was not very reasonable, until I carefully looked at the code and reread the White Paper. Suddenly I realized that this is simply a great idea.

The concept of Decentralization currency struck me at once. It’s not just a matter of Mining, but a grander blueprint. BTC showed me that reliable currency can exist outside the traditional system. So I started buying BTC and Mining myself. I began to set up my own Mining equipment at home, and over time, I found a gap in the market, so I started providing Mining services for others.

Until one day, my wife told me to move these machines out of the house because there was no more space left. Everywhere were these constantly running Mining machines. So, I started renting space in a data center and inadvertently established my own Mining company. And then came the moment when I went all in.

Imagine this: your wife is giving birth in the hospital, and you have to admit that you just spent all your savings on BTC mining machines. That was my situation at the time, and there could be two completely different outcomes at that moment. I was nervous and anxious, but also full of expectations. I knew it was a gamble, but I believed that cryptocurrency could change our lives.

My wife was naturally very angry, but I assured her that this was an investment for the future. I know full well that only by making calculated risk decisions can I continue to pursue my passion in the face of uncertainty and potential failure. So, I used all the money to buy mining machines and put them in data centers. People will rent my equipment to mine Bitcoin, and I will charge a certain fee for it.

Most of the orders come from the United States, in fact, my largest supplier is also in Texas. Therefore, considering the large amount of money I have invested in suppliers and the money earned from American customers, I decided to personally go to the United States to develop the business. The original plan was to temporarily move for six months, cooperate with the supplier, wait for the machines to be produced, but in the end, this move became a permanent migration. In fact, this is not the first time I have suddenly moved to a completely new place and adapted to a new environment and people.

Nigerian boy with a Scottish accent

I was born in Nigeria and left my hometown at the age of eight. At that time, my father was pursuing a PhD in economics, so our whole family moved to Aberdeen, eastern Scotland, where he continued his PhD in economics (a few years later, my younger brother would also follow the same path). After my father obtained his PhD, we moved again, this time to England. He started working, but then made a bold decision - he quit his job and became a full-time pastor, dedicating himself to serving God. This made me understand that anything is possible, and your life doesn’t have to be bound by previous choices.

As for my mother, she is a thorough entrepreneur. She always invests in business and real estate. Let me tell you, she may be the most formidable negotiator I have ever seen. Take her to the market, and she will haggle to an embarrassing extent until the other party compromises to give her the price she wants. She never accepts ‘no’ as an answer… I may have inherited some of her abilities, but I am nowhere near as formidable as she is.

Having moved to several countries and adapted to different environments, witnessing my parents take bold risks along the way was not always smooth sailing. However, looking back, I have no regrets. My parents have always been a huge inspiration and motivation on my journey forward.

If life remains unchanged, it is really boring.

Later, I entered Queen Mary University of London, but to be honest, I had no interest in education and just wanted to enjoy life. It wasn’t until approaching the graduation exams that I realized: I really should take my studies seriously. Looking at some of the friends I used to have, I found that they didn’t have much of a future. Two of them ended up in prison, and some others got involved in dark things like drug trafficking.

I absolutely do not want to live that kind of life. After enrolling, I spent a year taking foundational courses to determine my future direction. I chose astrophysics because I have always been curious about the universe. However, gradually, I realized that I need to do something more practical. Astrophysics is too theoretical for me. Theory is good, but I feel that my mind prefers concrete things that can be touched.

So, I turned to the field of electronic engineering and computer science, which truly ignited my passion for computers, programming, and software development. After graduation, I joined a startup company where I started building software and hardware for remote monitoring of oil and gas production.

Later, I switched to the financial industry, participating in the construction of trading systems, trading Algorithm, and Risk Management systems. I have worked at JPMorgan and HSBC, responsible for the construction of these systems. Although this experience was interesting, over time, I began to feel bored. As I mentioned earlier, everything became predictable. I also couldn’t see where my long-term value was, and couldn’t determine where I could make a significant impact.

I don’t want 1% improvement, I want a 100-fold leap. I hope what I do can make me proud repeatedly. So moving to the United States because of BTCMining is an unexpected stroke of luck for me, because I understand that the technology created by BTC is far more than just peer-to-peer cash transactions, it can change the way our world operates, and I begin to see a bigger picture.

Find Clarity Through Weariness

After spending some time in the BTC Mining field, I felt a bit disappointed because I thought we haven’t made much progress in the development of BTC. Mining is important, but what else can we do apart from Mining? What other possibilities are there? Due to my background in the business world and my experience in building systems for large banks, I began to feel that blockchain technology might be the key to solving many enterprise problems. Therefore, I decided to introduce blockchain technology into enterprises.

This is why I started working at Oracle and then moved to VMware. VMware is a software company focused on cloud computing technology. For me, joining VMware is a new challenge. They are building an enterprise blockchain-based solution, and the development progress of this product is lagging behind their competitors. They have almost nothing, except for basic Algorithm.

So we have to build this new product to sell to businesses and customers, while trying to catch up with companies that have long been rooted in the industry, we are facing tremendous pressure to catch up. Because of my experience in the encryption industry, I know that things change very quickly. I realize that I have to quickly launch some kind of product, because I know how terrible it feels to lose. If you don’t go all out and fail, you will understand that it is because you didn’t try your best.

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I have always been a competitive fool, whether it’s playing football on the field or electronic games, I always crave victory. To me, winning means achieving a complete victory. I don’t want to beat you 1-0 in FIFA, I must win the game 6-0. For me, there must be a clear gap, that’s what it means to win. Therefore, I have taken on more responsibilities in a short period of time because the workload is too heavy. I found myself busy with marketing, engineering, product development, and everything else.

But I am very motivated inside, and I always tell myself and the team that we must do our best and launch this product as soon as possible. I work long hours every day, and I feel that I can’t be defeated. But I quickly realized where the real problem lies, and it’s not a technical problem. The technology exists, and we can build it. The real problem lies in ownership.

You see, these companies all want to have a part of the infrastructure they need in order to control it. When you have this mindset, you cannot build a reasonable alliance because there is no common goal. The first real experience of fatigue in my career hit me like a truck, and I wore myself down in just six months.

This experience made me realize that you cannot equate failure with what happened in six or seven months. You need to see it as a long-term focus, which is a principle we keep in mind in SUI. We strive not only for quick victories but also for long-term development, aiming to create a truly decentralized internet.

Meeting with the 100x Team

After VMware, I came to Facebook. At Facebook, I participated in a project called Libra. This is a very ambitious plan where Facebook has formed an alliance to build a blockchain for creating global Digital Money and payment systems. What attracted me to join Facebook is that they have the alliance that we couldn’t establish in our previous work: at Facebook, they are able to unify around achieving goals.

So although I still see the ‘boot problem’ at Oracle and VMware, I think Facebook has addressed this issue through the alliance of Libra and Diem, and they are committed to building this infrastructure for the whole world.

Our idea is to make sending money on the internet as simple as sending an email, we believe this is a public good that can truly benefit the world. Facebook has been able to build one of the best research teams I’ve seen, with professors from Stanford University, outstanding computer scientists, and bright minds from all over the world. Working with everyone there makes me very happy, they have built a very good team culture, and everyone is passionate about the mission we are pursuing.

But even with so many talents, we still face great challenges. Due to Facebook’s past issues with public trust and data privacy, people are skeptical about their new financial system. Just imagine, if you woke up tomorrow morning and 200 million people opened bank accounts in “Facebook Bank,” that would be the largest bank in history.

For any country, this is a terrible thing. Coupled with the public opinion that ‘I don’t trust Facebook, it’s a monopoly’. This is the problem we need to solve. How to build trust when starting from a point of distrust? It is for these reasons that Libra ultimately did not succeed.

In hindsight, I think we may have underestimated Congress’s tough attitude toward Facebook. But I really think Zuckerberg should be praised, as should David Marcus, because they had the courage to try something that no one else had tried. In the process of failing to successfully launch Libra, Facebook actually opened the door for other companies like PayPal, Visa, and Circle. So their investment in Libra and the subsequent decision to cancel the project paved the way for other companies.

For me, it is heartbreaking to see this excellent team fail due to external factors. This is the best team I have ever worked with.

And I have no idea what to do next.

A outstanding team without a plan

I also want to say that for me personally, the failure of Libra has sown the seeds of success. Without that failure, I would never have had the opportunity to collaborate with those outstanding minds, who eventually came together to create Mysten Labs and later developed SUI. Looking back on my time at Facebook, one thing that impressed me deeply was my admiration for Evan and his team.

Evan is an outstanding leader and a great visionary.

Evan is one of the key innovators of LLVM technology, which provides support for most iPhones and countless other devices we use every day. It is a huge revolution in the tech world, and his work has earned him the prestigious ACM Computer Science Award, which has been awarded to some of the world’s top computer scientists.

He also led the research and development team at Facebook.

They are like mad scientists, creating a variety of products that we use every day. So, when I had the opportunity to closely collaborate with Evan and his team, I chose to join without hesitation. This experience allowed me to build a friendship with the future co-founder of Mysten Labs. When I saw the endless latency of the Libra/Diem release, Evan and I got together. He asked me, ‘If we were to start a company, who would you want to work with?’ He asked the same question to other founding team members, and when we all gave the same answer, it was clearly meant to be.

Sam Blackshear is one of Facebook’s top engineers, and Move programming language is his brainchild.

There is also Consensus expert George Danezis

Facebook actually acquired his company Chainspace to help build Libra, which shows his strong ability. Finally, there is Kostas ‘Kryptos’ Chalkias, whose creativity is amazing.

At Facebook, he is the chief figure in all encryption-related matters, and many of the Encryption Algorithm used in one of the most widely used applications globally, WhatsApp, are developed by him. We all attended a conference call, and the same name was explicitly mentioned by everyone. So we decided to do it this way! No one argued about roles or responsibilities. Honestly, we didn’t even know exactly what we were going to build, but we knew one thing for sure, we wanted to work together. And thus, Mysten Lab was born. It’s a good starting point.

Global Coordination Layer for Smart Assets

The vision of Libra is to make sending funds as simple as sending an email, built on an infrastructure controlled by multiple companies. When we started creating Mysten Labs, we realized that this vision was too narrow. We wanted to build something bigger, but also wanted it to be open and Decentralization.

The world is undergoing comprehensive digitization, and every asset is becoming digital by default. Today’s Internet excels in transmitting data, but falls short in conveying value or intent. If I want to send you money, we face a variety of protocol chaos, and these protocols cannot truly control the funds.

So, what kind of infrastructure does the Internet need to create a world where assets can be seamlessly constructed, coordinated, and combined? If we are to have billions of assets, each person has their own assets, how do we enable the intention coordination of these assets in a unified way so that others can participate?

This is our mission, so on the ruins of Libra, Sui’s vision is gradually becoming clear - to build a global coordination layer for digital assets.

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We are not a group of tech brothers playing with encryption technology. Some people in our team have participated in building systems and applications that can be scaled to billions of users. We have technical expertise and practical experience to establish a truly global solution.

For me, everything comes together: a grand vision, a team that I have no doubt about, and an opportunity to have a lasting impact on the future of the Internet. As we begin to build, the strength of our team becomes more evident. From the fastest Consensusprotocol to an object-centric approach, and to a platform with the best developer experience in the industry, Sui is gradually taking shape.

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Our complete vision is not just a global coordination layer, but also a storage layer and network infrastructure. Next, what we are building is a global storage layer, which we are developing in cooperation with Walrus. Then we will establish a global Network Layer, and we are building the entire technology stack layer by layer.

I can confidently say that currently no L1 Blockchains can truly match the vision or technology we have built at Mysten Labs. Moreover, no company has the human capital that Mysten Labs possesses, which is why I am certain that we will succeed. As I mentioned before, I hate failure. I am a sore loser, and this is a game I know we will win.

You may be wondering why I spent so much time telling my personal story instead of diving straight into all the exciting things happening at Mysten Labs. I believe understanding my background is important for you, as I want to share a more complete picture.

From the outside, it seems to be smooth sailing, but the truth is definitely not. Just like the world of encryption itself, my path is full of ups and downs - Fluctuation, uncertainty, sometimes even risky, perhaps a bit reckless.

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