Interview: Cassidy, PANews

Written by: Nancy, PANews

In the unregulated arena of the crypto world, stories of school dropouts making a comeback are not uncommon. Vitalik Buterin, CZ, Shayne Coplan, Pacman, Luca Netz… behind these names are individuals who dare to break conventions and seize the opportunities of the times. Cooper Scanlon, as one of the co-founders of Movement, is also a reflection of the era where crypto technology empowers individuals to break free from class constraints.

In a recent interview with PANews during the Taipei stop of GMove Cooper: Movement’s APAC Tour 2025, Cooper shared his journey of dropping out of school to dive into the crypto field. He analyzed Movement's unique advantages and future plans in a fiercely competitive environment and provided unique insights into the future development of the industry in light of the U.S. regulatory landscape.

Cooper came from a poor background and initially tried to change his fate through education, but the traditional employment path left him disappointed, leading him to drop out and bet everything on himself, fully immersing himself in the crypto market. In the interview, Cooper revealed that Movement has raised at least $55 million in venture capital to date and is accelerating ecosystem development following the launch of its developer mainnet.

As a potential player in Ethereum L2, Cooper candidly stated that the current L2 market is severely homogenized and lacks true innovation. Movement's core competitiveness lies in using the Move language to enhance security, executability, and audit efficiency, and he firmly believes that Move will replace Solidity as the mainstream language for the next generation of smart contracts. He also emphasized that the community is the lifeline of the project, and issuing tokens before the mainnet is a key step to ensure decentralization and avoid excessive concentration of power.

Looking ahead to crypto regulation, Cooper stated that although Trump is crypto-friendly, policy changes take time, and the next four years may gradually favor local projects.

School Dropout Enters Bear Market, Seizes "Big Opportunity" with Move Language

Cooper grew up in a remote town in the U.S. with few career development opportunities. Coming from a poor family, he carried a heavy economic burden from a young age, needing to make a living while also caring for his family. In high school, he started working but quickly realized that this hard work only provided for basic needs and would not allow him to truly turn his life around. To break free from his predicament, Cooper pinned his hopes on achieving a high ACT score, believing that getting into a top university was the key to changing his fate. Ultimately, he was accepted into Vanderbilt University. However, feeling lost about his future career direction, he chose a unique and practical major in Human and Organizational Development—a discipline similar to business psychology—while also minoring in computer science and philosophy, believing these skills could be applied across multiple fields.

However, college life did not provide Cooper with a clear path. Being young, he missed the golden age of the internet and social media, but he was always pondering: where is the next big opportunity? How can he seize it? The rise of cryptocurrency opened his eyes; he keenly sensed that this emerging field lacked true experts, and as a college student, he could quickly become a "relative expert" through self-study. Thus, Cooper began collaborating with large funds, teaching them about tokenization and blockchain while learning their operational models.

He recalled in the interview, "Every week, I would organize what I learned into presentations and explain them to them. This way, for a few hours each week, I could have face-to-face discussions with managing partners of large funds. I gradually realized that if I followed the traditional career path, it might take me decades to have the opportunity to sit in those people's conference rooms. Emerging technology allowed me to do that while still in college."

At the same time, Cooper secured an internship at Bloomberg, initially thinking that entering a large company would change his fate. However, reality shattered his illusions—New York's exorbitant rent and fierce housing competition left him gasping for air, and even interning at a top company, his salary was insufficient to cover basic living expenses. This experience left him thoroughly disillusioned with the traditional career path. He began to realize that real opportunities lay in emerging technologies and applying them to practical scenarios, and these skills could be mastered without a college diploma. On that day, Cooper made a bold decision: to quit his internship at Bloomberg and drop out of Vanderbilt University. However, behind this decision was his ongoing collaboration with a fund project, developing structured products using the Move language.

At the moment of dropping out, Cooper was not afraid; instead, he was exhilarated. In the previous weeks, the heavy workload had left him breathless, with many things he wanted to do but no time to complete. "Honestly, relying on others to make a living is scarier than dropping out. The market environment has been deteriorating, and I believe this situation will continue. I didn't want to go back to worrying about my next meal. So, I decided to bet everything on myself; it was the best decision I ever made," Cooper admitted.

In November 2022, Cooper co-founded Movement with another dropout, Rushi Manche. However, this was during the crypto bear market following the FTX collapse, with market liquidity drying up and investor confidence plummeting. Meanwhile, the Move language, as an emerging blockchain programming language, had not yet been widely accepted, and the market's perception of it was largely based on the performance of Move chains like Aptos and Sui, which also failed to show sufficient resilience in the deep bear market after the FTX collapse.

Cooper recalled, "When we started, market liquidity was extremely low, and we were in a deep bear market. Many people questioned me, 'Are you going back to school? Just try it, and if it doesn't work out, go back.' The biggest challenge was getting people to be willing to bet on us and the Move language. Move was very new at the time, and most people had no experience. All they saw was the poor state of Move chains after the FTX collapse. Even the top teams in the Web3 space—like the Swedish team that came directly from the Facebook Libra project, with backgrounds from the world's top companies—failed to succeed. So, people would think: if they can't do it, how can these two college dropouts succeed?"

In the face of skepticism, Cooper and Rushi chose to prove themselves through action. "Our approach to this situation was to work hard. For example, there was a time when we wrote 50 pages of documentation over a weekend, detailing the white paper, marketing plan, and ecosystem development plan. We had to invest tremendous effort to show people that we were worth betting on and to inspire their confidence."

"We pitched to about a few hundred people, got rejected hundreds of times, before finally receiving our first 'YES.' Continuous effort has been key to Movement's journey to this day," Cooper advised young founders, encouraging them to be ready to prove themselves and be willing to go the extra mile. The hardest part is getting the first batch of people to believe in you; success often depends on time and passion—believing in what you are doing and persisting, even if the rewards do not appear immediately. Once you secure the first support, the snowball can start rolling."

Despite a difficult start, Movement gradually gained market recognition. Today, Movement's FDV has reached several billion dollars, and Cooper disclosed that they have secured $55 million in funding support from investment institutions including Polychain Capital, YZi Labs, Hack VC, Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, and Aptos.

Developer Mainnet Launches, Accelerating Ecosystem Development

In February of this year, Movement announced the launch of its developer mainnet, a key step for this Ethereum Layer 2 solution based on the Move language. This launch not only opened up core infrastructure but also came with the release of technical documentation and developer resources, as well as the deployment of selected partners and DeFi protocols.

In Cooper's view, the mainnet launch for Movement is like a meticulously planned party—DJ, lights, balloons, not a single element can be missing. Currently, Movement's focus is on integrating all elements to ensure the smooth operation of the ecosystem, including a multi-asset liquidity program called Cornucopia. This program is set to launch simultaneously with the public mainnet Beta, aiming to achieve deeper market efficiency by providing foundational support for DeFi applications. In the interview, Cooper likened this plan to replacing "hard drives" with "solid-state drives," aiming to inject strong liquidity at the official launch of the mainnet to ensure seamless operation of the DeFi ecosystem when the incentive mechanisms are activated.

For any emerging blockchain, liquidity is the lifeblood of ecosystem development, especially in core DeFi scenarios such as indices and lending. Cooper is well aware of this, stating, "Our goal is to prepare liquidity for core applications, ensuring that the DeFi ecosystem can operate seamlessly when the incentive measures are activated."

This plan not only focuses on optimizing the technical layer but also looks towards integrating real-world assets (RWA) and institutional capital. Cooper mentioned in the interview, "What excites me the most is that RWA and institutional products are merging with our network. These products were previously limited to ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and even someone like me, a U.S. citizen, found it difficult to access them because their yields far exceed ordinary products, sometimes even doubling." Cooper noted that this was precisely the original intention behind Facebook's development of the Move language—to provide secure and efficient blockchain solutions for institutions, while the limitations of Solidity in terms of security and speed can no longer meet this demand.

Movement's vision is to bring these high-quality financial products to global users through the DeFi ecosystem. "We hope that users can not only access U.S. financial products and dollars but also use RWA for on-chain innovations, such as lending or derivatives trading, creating a truly powerful financial environment," Cooper added.

In addition to injecting Cornucopia liquidity into applications to enhance ecosystem vitality, Movement also plans to launch application incentive measures, similar to a "Move annual yield" mechanism to encourage users to participate deeply, as well as the upcoming second phase of the Parthenon testnet.

Furthermore, to further attract and retain developers, Movement is accelerating its global layout, including a recent focus on an Asian tour. "Asia is the future of programming, with the largest developer base and the fastest growth rate," Cooper stated in the interview. By hosting events in various locations, Movement aims to bring together developers, investors, community members, KOLs, and traders, providing resources, market support, and funding channels for new developers entering the space. This puzzle-like approach to ecosystem building not only accelerates project implementation but also lays the groundwork for future global hackathon plans. Cooper revealed that following the successful hosting of Movement Mania, the next phase of global events is already in preparation, aimed at further stimulating the creativity of the developer community.

Aiming to Reshape Ethereum L2 with Move, Emphasizing Community-Driven Strategy

As an Ethereum L2 based on the Move language, Movement Network aims to enhance blockchain security and high executability. However, the current Ethereum L2 market is overly saturated, with a significant head effect, and issues of complex user experience and fragmented ecosystems are becoming increasingly prominent.

"Currently, there are too many different blockchains, especially L2s. The market is so crowded because most L2s are merely replicas of their predecessors, with only a 10% speed increase and new marketing packaging, lacking substantial differences and still unable to escape the inherent flaws of Solidity and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)," Cooper stated. The key difference for Movement lies in directly introducing the next-generation smart contract language, Move, into the Ethereum ecosystem. In Movement, users can enjoy both security and performance, benefit from the convenience of writing smart contracts, and conduct audits at lower costs and faster speeds, all while enhancing the pace of on-chain innovation. And all of this can be experienced without leaving the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing users to directly enjoy all the advantages brought by Move.

Cooper firmly believes that Move will become the mainstream language for smart contract development in the future. "Move is truly our North Star; it is the future of smart contract development and will replace Solidity. Because in the future, millions of developers will learn Move. If you look at emerging markets with rapid developer growth, such as Vietnam and Nigeria, developers in these regions have already shifted from Rust to Move development."

However, within the Move ecosystem, Movement is not alone; projects like Aptos and Sui are also based on the Move language, each with its own technical advantages. Cooper emphasized that Movement's layout in decentralization and community-driven strategies gives it a unique advantage. Unlike most chains that maximize token retention for teams and investors at launch, including through staking lock-ups that result in circulating supply being far lower than staked amounts, thereby harming the interests of token holders, Movement truly prioritizes the community. Tokens are held collectively by supporters, developers, builders, and community members, with the team and investors not participating in staking. This means that the circulating tokens fully belong to the users, eliminating concerns about insider sell-offs. This decentralized, community-first model not only enhances user trust but also lays the foundation for attracting developers and long-term supporters. Additionally, Movement maintains close communication with developers through channels like Telegram and helps teams within the ecosystem grow rapidly through AMAs, marketing promotions, and funding support.

Community culture is also something Movement has emphasized throughout the interview. In the Web3 world, the community is gradually becoming the core driving force behind project success. "The community is the lifeline of any project. Without a community, you might as well give up," Cooper pointed out in the interview. Even with top-notch technology, if no one uses it, the project will struggle to survive. Looking back at the history of the crypto market, some networks and tokens, despite having mediocre technology, have maintained their price and relevance thanks to strong community support. This indicates that in today's fiercely competitive environment between chains, while technology is important, the activity and loyalty of the community are the keys to success. Especially now, with so many chains competing for the same users, if everyone is vying for the same audience, ultimately, in my view, the key lies in who can best identify and reward their users, and who can build the most organic and active community. It's not just about building cool technology; it's about giving people something to believe in, something they can participate in. I think it's great that people are realizing this with Movement, and I believe this will ultimately lead to a better experience for users in this industry.

It is also due to considerations for the community that, unlike many crypto projects that choose to issue tokens after launching the mainnet, Movement completed its TGE (Token Generation Event) before the mainnet launch. Cooper pointed out in the interview that any network starting from scratch often faces potential risks of power concentration and malicious behavior. Pre-issuing tokens helps achieve decentralization before the official launch, ensuring smooth operation. This strategy has also received strong support from the community and partners, and the market is in a relatively positive state. Cooper admitted, "Looking back, this timing was almost perfect, helping us gain a more favorable position in the current challenging market."

Backed by the Trump Family, Cooper States Crypto Regulation Has Not Yet Changed Substantially

Trump's friendly attitude towards cryptocurrency and expectations of relaxed policies provide greater room for the industry to operate, including for U.S.-based projects like Movement, which may welcome more development opportunities.

Cooper commented on this, "As a team founded in the U.S., we are excited about this vision of 'new centrism.' All our efforts—expanding our user base, bringing in users from key emerging markets—are closely tied to U.S. strategic interests. These markets are crucial for the U.S. because they are not only the forefront of financial expansion but also battlegrounds for the dollar's dominance. We have received substantial support in this regard."

However, Cooper also admitted that while there is genuine optimism about the future, changes in crypto regulation do not happen overnight. "So far, the regulatory environment has not undergone substantial changes, which is one reason the market has cooled slightly recently. The excitement is real, but the implementation of policies takes time. The current regulatory framework is the result of decades of evolution and cannot be changed overnight. However, we believe that in the next four years, U.S. regulation in the crypto space will gradually shift towards a more positive stance. Whether it's encouraging local teams to return or providing more support for cryptocurrencies, it will bring new opportunities for the industry."

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