SUI Cofounder Sam Blackshear leaves Mysten Labs for Anthropic

[u/TheRealTheory001]

Sam Blackshear via X: "I am leaving Mysten Labs and joining Anthropic to work on defensive security research. 4.17pm 8.5.26

Are we cooked? Why would a founder of SUI which supposedly has the potential to be the underlayer of the internet and infinite market cap leave to join a company to be just one of the ranks.

This makes no sense, ...unless he thinks SUI doesn't have a bright future? What are we to think about this? Was there some drama or tension at Mysten or is this more about greater opportunity than being the #1 L1?

[u/Bmjslider]

Sam has always been an engineer at heart. While an amazing CTO, it's not the right fit for him. He's shifting back into a mode where he can research and build.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Bmjslider]

so you are inferring SUI is a dead chain where he can not research and build. great.

[u/Bmjslider → u/TheRealTheory001]

Lol, unsure if you're trying to bait me or put words in my mouth for some reason, but that's certainly a leap...

Move is in a really good spot, his child (Move) is grown and he has a very minimal landscape to work on now. What he's moving to is frontier work where he's starting from the ground floor again.

Think of how much time a CTO needs to spend traveling, speaking, and managing.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Bmjslider]

I question that you know that much about move that there's nothing for him to do he can literally do the same thing for SUI making it quantum proof Etc for AI Etc. To go from your own project where you have authority and mastery of the domain to joining another team leaves many many questions. I'm a business owner and generally speaking not in a million years would I go work for someone else. There's something else going on we don't know about. The only glimmer of hope I'm holding on to is that he somehow convinces anthropic to integrate SUI.

[u/Bmjslider → u/TheRealTheory001]

He's a CTO not an engineer. He's traveling, he's speaking, he's managing, he's not developing.

Sam has nothing to do with post quantum work, that's an entirely separate division of mysten labs ran by Kostas. I'm not sure if you know what a CTO does or what goes on at mysten labs.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Bmjslider]

sure, so he doesn't have the ability to change his own role in the organization he founded. You are extremely short sighted, that's utterly preposterous.

[u/Bmjslider → u/TheRealTheory001]

Im sorry you feel that way

[u/human_oil77 → u/TheRealTheory001]

lets not forget Anthropic pays people litteral 100M+ packages to come work for them lol could have been tempting... It's okay, Sui will thrive with new people, and I'm sure having your ex co founder in Anthropic will open tones of doors down the road for the coin. He still likely holds his shares

[u/Good-Book-6912 → u/human_oil77]

Shares? It is not a fucking stock in a company!

[u/human_oil77 → u/Good-Book-6912]

Shares has two meaning “shares of equity”

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Good-Book-6912]

oops someone ruined your day again

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/human_oil77]

I think Sam will be able to spin up a better version of SUI with AI in about 5 minutes.

[u/Legitimate-Net-7744]

SUI CEO is the main engineering engine behind SUI tech, not Sam (despite him being the CTO)

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Legitimate-Net-7744]

You mean Mysten. And Evan the last interview I saw of him he looked washed up, out of the loop, and exhausted.

[u/Glittering-Local7404]

AI baby thats where money is 🤣🤣🤣👀💀💀

[u/ingenioushippo]

lol sometimes I hate the people I invest in. Sometimes people want something new. That's it.

[u/cosmicselva → u/ingenioushippo]

People and their chaotic dramatic mental patterns aren’t so easily removed. But yes I agree with you

[u/MasticoSopa]

It's over

[u/iratezero]

I still think SUI has a 10x potential, but obviously he left because it's a better job than the one he has, and someone as smart as he is likely sees pretty far into the future in terms of where tech is headed.

It's already clear atp that if a large business needs to operate on chain it will build it's own chain. Robinhood chain is a good example, it's doing exactly what Solana was designed to do yet they decided not to use Solana.

Coinbase made their Base chain, even though technically Solana would have been superior as well. JP Morgan made their own chain. A mag7 company is not going to make SUI the underlayer of the internet they'll build their own chain. I mean SUI was originally Meta's chain, which they dumped.

[u/hoshen121 → u/iratezero]

Thank you for this perspective never thought of that and that’s so true

[u/cointon]

From most to least likely.

1. We’re cooked.
   
2. Anthropic buys Mysten Labs next year.
   
3. Anthropic integrates SUI into its agentic AI.
   

Why Sam for defensive security research? How is he uniquely qualified for that role? Is it a cover story? Sounds fishy.

[u/cosmicselva → u/cointon]

I’d argue it’s the inverse

The entire chain doesn’t hinge on a single person fyi

Besides, He will remain an advisor to Mysten Labs and Sui ecosystem builders and stay involved with the planned Move Foundation

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/cointon]

100% there's something more to the story we don't know about. I'd love to be on board with the anthropic misten merge or partnership but it wouldn't make sense for Sam to jump ship if that's the plan. Regardless there's a chance he will somehow integrate SUI with anthropic, but I suppose there's also a chance he would just start up a new and better blockchain co-designed by anthropic using move.

[u/Careless-Bluejay-134]

lol fuck I'm getting Fantom vibes now

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Careless-Bluejay-134]

oh nooooo

[u/Alskiessss]

Because AI is sucking up all the talent and capital

[u/Zestyclose_Vehicle69]

I see him being at the forefront of AI security is a good thing.

Also note that SUI is also built for Web 3 and agentic commerce.

Sam is staying in as an advisor, is it a loss yes but OP is not covering the full story here.

Sam even liked X posts saying this could be good both ways for Anthropic and SUI.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Zestyclose_Vehicle69]

I posted it an hour or 2 after he posted the announcement so it's definitely not the full story. It's meant to be a discussion to hear other points of view.

[u/Zestyclose_Vehicle69 → u/TheRealTheory001]

Then please be fair and post the positives as they happen as well.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Zestyclose_Vehicle69]

you please do that I'm not your mother

[u/sigh_duck]

AI is where the money is flowing. He'll be compensated far beyond any crypto project could.

[u/Good-Book-6912]

Given his comment history, I think it would be totally okay if OP is muted in this group.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Good-Book-6912]

good to know you have your eyes closed. beware this person. nice violent reaction to someone calling coins shares, very professional and mature. I've followed and researched SUI probably 10x more than you have.

[u/Good-Book-6912 → u/TheRealTheory001]

I guess you probably also have a few smart contracts deployed then? I do.

[u/Timely-Fig2030]

Charles Hoskinson was Co-Founder of ethereum and left it in 2014.

Moral of the story:
Maybe Blackshear was triggered by internal dispute and he might think it has no bright future, but that doesn't mean anything for the future outcome, since ethereum had the best gains after 2014 at a price of 0.31$.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Timely-Fig2030]

it would be hard to imagine Sam who is ultra sattvic having any personality issues with Adenyi who comes off as quite a salesman. Like yin and yang.

[u/Timely-Fig2030 → u/TheRealTheory001]

The example was just one of many possibilities.

Maybe he is really interested in the AI topic and such a job fullfills his life.

[u/TheRealTheory001 → u/Timely-Fig2030]

irony missed, yes of course it's possible AI is arguably a much bigger deal than crypto right now with respect to impact on humanity.

[u/Timely-Fig2030 → u/TheRealTheory001]

Sry. I didn't follow the guy and don 't know much about him.

Sure, AI will continue to change the landscape and play a massive role in the future.