Key Takeaways
- Rushi Manche is an entrepreneur focused on blockchain tech, the Move language, and safer smart contracts for decentralized apps.
- As co-founder of Movement Labs, Rushi worked on linking Move with Ethereum to improve smart contract security and scalability. Movement Labs suspended him in May 2025 and then terminated him, amid a controversy over a MOVE market-maker deal.
- Before tech, Rushi worked as an accountant at Friendly Tax Service, developing strong organizational and customer service skills.
Who is Rushi Manche?
Rushi Manche is an entrepreneur and software engineer passionate about blockchain technology and the Move programming language. He’s primarily focused on safer smart contracts and building modular blockchains.
He co-founded Movement Labs, where he worked on connecting Move with Ethereum and enhancing smart contract security until the company terminated him in May 2025. Rushi earned a Computer Science and Organizational Psychology degree from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science.
Early Career in Client Services
From 2017 to 2020, Rushi Manche worked as an accountant at Friendly Tax Service. He tracked client records in Excel, filed taxes online with TurboTax, and answered client questions. This job helped him develop good organizational skills, attention to detail, and experience in customer support.
Transition Into Tech
In 2020, Rushi moved into the tech field by joining EndCoronavirus.org as a front-end developer. He worked on making the website easier to use by using tools like Next.js, GraphQL, and Node.js. He also built live data charts with Python to show the latest COVID-19 trends and helped with creating social media posts to reach more people and share important updates.
Freelance & Full-Stack Work
In 2021, Rushi worked as a full-stack developer at AntEater, where he helped connect Jira with OAuth and used the Jira API to automate timesheet management with AI. He also built front and backend features using Vue.js and Flask, improving the platform’s performance.
That year, Rushi also took on freelance full-stack development for Stories In The Cloud. He refreshed the user portal using React and Bootstrap, oversaw DevOps processes on AWS, and switched the backend from PHP to Node.js, adding MySQL for better performance and scalability.
Software Engineering at UnitedHealth Group
In 2022, Rushi joined UnitedHealth Group as a software engineer. He led the process of moving APIs to AWS cloud infrastructure and helped update old systems to new technologies. This work improved scalability, performance, and cost-efficiency.
Founding Ensemble
In 2022, Rushi started Ensemble, an AI-powered tutoring platform designed to help with test preparation. The platform focused on giving students personalized study materials, smart feedback, and an easy-to-use learning experience to support their success in standardized tests.
Co-Founding Movement Labs
Later in 2022, Rushi joined Aptos Projects as a software engineer, where he worked on developing smart contracts in Move for a decentralized exchange and cross-chain index funds.
In November 2022, he co-founded Movement Labs with Cooper Scanlon.
The project aims to extend the use of the Move programming language beyond its original platform, bringing it to ecosystems like Ethereum to improve smart contract security, flexibility, and scalability.
Token Launch Challenges
In his interview on the Empire podcast, Manche talked about the stressful token launch at Movement Labs, with last-minute decisions and unpredictable market conditions. He shared that the strategy was based on managing the airdrop, understanding market sentiment, and ensuring the ecosystem was ready.
Unlike regular IPOs, crypto launches had many surprises, with key decisions made just hours before. The team faced a lot of pressure and burnout, but Manche believed the launch succeeded due to good timing, preparation, and some luck.
The launch later drew scrutiny. Reports said a market maker hired for MOVE’s December 2024 debut sold its 66 million tokens within a day, and in March 2025 Binance said it had offboarded the market maker and frozen its proceeds. On May 1, 2025, Movement Labs suspended Manche while a third-party review was underway, and on May 7 it said it had terminated him (The Block).
Gasyard and MovePosition Collaboration
In April 2025, Gasyard announced its collaboration with MovePosition, a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol powered by Concordia’s adaptive risk model. Moveposition is a borrow/lend platform on Movement Labs, allowing users to trade quickly while lending, borrowing, and building on the platform. Users can trade easily and quickly through this partnership with Gasyard and MovePosition.
Overcoming Startup Challenges
Co-founding Movement Labs came with its own set of challenges. Rushi faced issues like unpredictable markets, tight deadlines, and high pressure while launching tokens.
Impact on Smart Contract Security
Making smart contracts more secure was a key part of Rushi’s work at Movement Labs. By connecting Move with Ethereum and other blockchains, he aimed to create safer, more reliable contracts that reduce bugs, prevent attacks, and build trust in decentralized apps.
Vision For Blockchain and AI
Looking ahead, Rushi sees great potential in combining AI with blockchain technology. He believes this could lead to new developments in areas such as automating contract execution, improving smart contract audits, and creating personalized financial services, helping to advance decentralized platforms even further.
Rushi Manche’s Work at Movement Labs
Rushi Manche’s path has taken him from client services to co-founding Movement Labs, where he focused on improving smart contract security and building scalable blockchains until his termination in May 2025. His work there combined the Move programming language with Ethereum to create more reliable systems. Despite facing challenges in the startup world, Rushi’s vision for the future includes merging blockchain and AI to push decentralized platforms forward and enhance security.
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