From Apple Engineer to Web3 Revolutionary: The Sui Legend of Evan Cheng

In the vast galaxy of the tech world, Evan Cheng shines like a brilliant XLM, illuminating the future of Web3 with his technical talent and visionary insights. As the co-founder and CEO of Sui Blockchain and Mysten Labs, he has grown from a young coder in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, into a tech giant impacting billions of devices worldwide, crafting a legendary story that spans compilers, Blockchains, and the digital future.

The Young Man's Coding Dream: From Kaohsiung to Silicon Valley

Evan Cheng was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and showed extraordinary enthusiasm for computers from a young age. Keyboards and code were his childhood companions, and the world of programming opened up endless imaginative possibilities for him. In 1992, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Marietta College in the United States, and later achieved a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Syracuse University in 1996. His educational journey laid a solid technical foundation for him and directed his gaze towards Silicon Valley, a fertile ground for technology. In 1997, Evan began his professional career as an Engineering Manager at Equator Technologies. His talent quickly shone in the industry. In 2005, he joined Apple, ushering in a golden decade for his career. At Apple, he led the LLVM compiler project, an open-source compiler framework that has become a core cornerstone of modern software development, impacting billions of devices worldwide. From iPhone to Mac, LLVM’s optimizations have allowed countless applications to run more efficiently and smoothly. In 2012, Evan was awarded the ACM Software System Award, which placed him alongside the 'father of the World Wide Web,' Tim Berners-Lee. This honor not only recognized his technical contributions but also symbolized his spirit of innovation.

The Launch of Blockchain: From Facebook to Web3

In 2015, Evan joined Facebook as the Director of Engineering, responsible for programming language and runtime development. His technical vision expanded once again. In 2018, he began leading the Novi Research team, immersing himself in blockchain research and participating in the highly publicized Libra (later renamed Diem) project, where he spearheaded the development of the Move programming language. Although Libra failed to fully launch due to external factors such as regulation, Evan's accumulation of experience in the blockchain field sowed the seeds for his future breakthroughs. The Move language, known for its security and efficiency, became the cornerstone of his future Web3 journey. In September 2021, Evan co-founded Mysten Labs with four former Novi team members, aiming to create a more secure, reliable, and scalable Web3 infrastructure. Their first project, the Sui Blockchain, embodies Evan's grand vision for the next generation of the Internet. Sui is not only a technological platform but also represents his belief in the future of Web3: to bring blockchain from a geek's playground to the lives of the general public through innovative technology.

The Rise of Sui: The Next Generation Benchmark of Web3

In 2022, Mysten Labs completed two rounds of financing, totaling over $336 million, with a valuation skyrocketing to $2 billion, becoming a unicorn in the Web3 space. Support from top venture capital firms like a16z highlights the market's confidence in the Evan team. In May 2023, the Sui mainnet officially launched, boasting an astonishing processing capacity of 280,000 transactions per second, far surpassing many existing blockchains, and earning the title of a benchmark for Layer 1. The uniqueness of Sui lies in its object-oriented design based on the Move language, allowing developers to build more efficient and secure decentralized applications (DApps). Evan once said, "Sui is not meant to catch up but to redefine the possibilities of blockchain." In 2024, the Sui ecosystem flourished, with the total value locked (TVL) surpassing $1.5 billion, covering various fields such as DeFi, NFTs, and gaming. In the same year, Mysten Labs launched the SuiPlay0X1 gaming device, which Evan referred to as the pioneer of the "software revolution," aiming to enhance the Web3 gaming experience through the combination of hardware and blockchain. This innovation not only showcased Sui's technical strength but also revealed Evan's profound thinking on Web3 application scenarios.

The dual brilliance of technology and vision

Evan Cheng is regarded as a technological visionary of Web3. In 2024, he was selected as one of CoinDesk's "50 Most Influential People," which affirms his efforts in promoting the adoption of Blockchain. He often says, "The future of Web3 belongs to developers; only by solving user experience issues can Blockchain truly enter every household." Beyond technology, Evan's life is also filled with diverse charms. He has been working in Switzerland for many years and loves hip-hop music and skiing, showcasing another side of a tech powerhouse. Currently, he is leading Mysten Labs in exploring collaborations with Hollywood and the South Korean entertainment industry, attempting to unlock greater value in culture and entertainment through digital assets.

Innovation fears no challenge

From LLVM to Sui, from Apple to Mysten Labs, Evan Cheng's story is an epic about technology and dreams. He changes the world with code and ignites the spark of Web3 with vision. His experience tells us that no matter how old you are or how great the challenges, as long as you have innovation in your heart, the world will be different because of you. On the journey of Web3, Evan is still moving forward, and every step he takes is writing a new chapter for the digital future.