Sui Network CTO Sam Blackshear has accused Aptos of pressuring Pontem Network into removing two Move language developers and a Move compiler author from speaking at the MoveCon event, as well as eliminating the Sui Foundation from the list of organizers.
MoveCon is the first conference for the Move language project and developer community and is scheduled to take place from March 3rd to 5th in Denver, USA.
In a tweet posted on March 1, Blackshear wrote, “Aptos put pressure on Pontem Network to break the move of two Move language developers and Move compiler author. It is disappointing to learn that the con lecture was canceled.” He also criticized Aptos for removing Sui Foundation from the list of organizers.
Both Aptos and Sui were founded by key officials of the cryptocurrency project of Meta (formerly Facebook), and both use Move, the coding language used in Diem. Blackshear is widely regarded as the creator of the Move programming language.
According to Blackshear’s tweet, the two developers whose talk was canceled are Twitter users @/tnowacki and @/damirka, who have contributed greatly to the conference as well as sharing their knowledge with the community.
@/tnowacki is the author of the Move compiler and has been working on Move since 2018, while damirka wrote the first book on Move and has been working on Move since 2019.
Blackseer tweeted that when it comes to decisions related to Move, he focuses solely on what is best for the long-term healthy development of Move and the community. He believes that inclusivity, curiosity, and gratitude are the most important values of Move and that canceling the invitation of speakers right before the event is unacceptable.
The accusation sparked controversy in the Move ecosystem, with about 100 comments posted on the tweet just three days before the conference. The comments criticized Aptos and urged unity among the Move community.
