Dapper Labs, the company behind Ethereum-based virtual game, CryptoKitties, has announced a partnership with Facebook Libra.
According to a Medium blog post, together they were looking to create a more receptive working environment for developers. Prior to this partnership, Dapper Labs created a new environment for developers called the Flow Playground, enabling them to create programs and also efficiently try them out. It also designed a new programming language called Cadence.
Facebook stablecoin Libra is now all set to integrate Dapper Labs Cadence to their own Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM) language. Speaking on the partnership, Dapper Labs CTO, Dieter Shirley pointed out that the goal was to make Cadence “a readable language that compiles down to the MoveVM.”
MoveVM is quite flexible, with the capability to easily and effectively work with other blockchain protocols and infrastructures like Solana. According to Shirley, Dapper Labs will also incorporate MoveVM into Flow. This, in turn, will ensure both blockchains are interoperable and developer-friendly.
Different goals for both platforms
Irrespective of the plan to merge, both Dapper Labs and Libra will have different goals. While Libra will remain a payment processor, Flow will work on creating virtual assets like crypto collectibles.
Shirley further added that for now, the two platforms had no plans to build an asset or smart contract together. The possibility of collaborating to build something together in the future was also quite slim.
Earlier, Libra had categorically stated that it had no plans to utilize smart contracts at its launch.
About Flow
Dapper Labs Flow is a blockchain platform specifically designed for developers. According to reports, the platform is well-crafted to meet the needs of next-generation DApps, virtual games and supporting digital assets.
The Flow program since its inception currently boasts of about 566 projects along with more than 1,000 developers on its Discord channel. This number is expected to increase drastically due to its partnership with Libra.
Dapper Labs is inviting interested developers to try out its playground along with the benefits of Libra’s MoveVM language. According to the blog post, though fundamentally different, Libra and Dapper Labs complemented each other’s technology.
Shirley described MoveVM as a top-notch virtual machine taking the very efficient bottom-up route. As a result, MoveVM had an emphasis on “efficiency and compact representations, speed, and throughput”. Cadence, on the other hand, was built “from the top-down” with “developer ergonomics readability, and functionality” as its main focus.
Since its inception, Facebook Libra has faced a lot of criticism, alongside the loss of some of its important members. Some experts have also pointed out that all this indicated that the proposed launch of Libra this year was uncertain.
