Sam Blackshear, co-founder of Mysten Labs, said he is stepping down from the company to join Anthropic as part of its defensive security research team. Following Meta, Blackshear co-founded Mysten Labs in 2021 with several former Diem engineers, including Evan Cheng. As chief technology officer, he helped architect layer 1 blockchain Sui, while also contributing to related infrastructure projects such as Walrus. Cheng, CEO of Mysten Labs, will assume responsibility for the company’s technical vision following Blackshear’s departure. Despite leaving his operational role, Blackshear said he would continue serving as an advisor to Mysten Labs and remaining engaged with developers building on the Sui blockchain.