Mysten Labs: Meta Employee Turns Entrepreneur, Building a 200K TPS Blockchain for Gaming and the Metaverse
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Mysten Labs: Meta Employee Turns Entrepreneur, Building a 200K TPS Blockchain for Gaming and the Metaverse
Mysten Labs is not targeting the payment market, but rather optimizing blockchain experiences for gaming, the metaverse, and decentralized social media networks.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: theinformation
Compiled by: TechFlow
TechFlow Note: It's no longer news to see employees from major Silicon Valley tech companies embracing Web3.0. If there’s one standout example, it’s Mysten Labs. Its founding team primarily comes from Meta (formerly Facebook), and they’re aiming ambitiously to build a blockchain capable of 200,000 transactions per second (tps), designed for games, the metaverse, and social applications in the Web3 era.
Previously, they secured $36 million in funding led by a16z—equity financing, not tokens—though the founders have indicated they may consider issuing a token in the future.
Founders: Evan Cheng, Sam Blackshear, Adeniyi Abiodun, and George Danezis
Funding Raised: $36 million
Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Standard Crypto, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, among others
All four co-founders of Mysten Labs worked at Meta’s Novi financial product and crypto division. CEO Evan Cheng served as head of engineering and research from 2018 until September this year. There, they contributed to projects including the Novi cryptocurrency wallet launched in October, as well as a smart contract platform and blockchain protocol. Despite these efforts, the co-founders of Mysten Labs still felt sidelined from the fast-moving blockchain world, especially as their products at Meta remained unreleased.
Cheng said he and his colleagues looked around and asked themselves: "Why are we sitting on the sidelines?"
So Mysten Labs was born. He and his co-founders decided to forge their own path in the crypto industry, developing their own blockchain, with testing scheduled for March or April.
Cheng said the blockchain will be capable of settling payments extremely quickly, targeting 200,000 transactions per second (tps)—far surpassing Ethereum’s 15 tps and even Solana’s 65,000 tps. However, Cheng noted that during their time at Novi, his team realized the payment industry might not yet fully appreciate the value of using blockchains for near-instant settlement.
Rather than targeting the payments market, Mysten Labs is optimizing its blockchain for gaming, the metaverse, and decentralized social media networks. The company also aims to collaborate with creators to improve the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in games.
Cheng explained that blockchain-based digital assets in games are often relatively static. Mysten Labs’ blockchain will support dynamic NFTs that evolve as players interact with games. For instance, an NFT sword used to defeat a dragon could gain new abilities, such as shooting power.
Cheng believes gaming is a simple way to introduce people to blockchain technology and drive widespread adoption. With gaming, “people don’t even realize they’re using cryptocurrency,” he said.
Mysten Labs’ revenue model is still under development. Cheng said the company is also interested in launching a developer platform and other blockchain networks.
Because Mysten Labs plans to offer multiple products—not just a new blockchain—the company chose to raise its recent $36 million Series A round through equity rather than selling blockchain-related tokens.
Blockchain developers like Solana typically opt for token sales, allowing investors to acquire crypto tokens used on the blockchain at low prices. As the blockchain gains adoption and value, investors hope to reap substantial returns from rising token prices. However, venture capital investments via tokens have recently become controversial, as they may grant undue influence over blockchain protocols that should ideally be user-controlled.
Cheng said Mysten Labs may consider a token sale in the future. For now, the company is focused on developing the blockchain and hiring more engineers. Cheng said they’re recruiting talent from large tech firms who are excited about blockchain opportunities—even those without prior crypto experience.
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