Former Meta, Netflix Engineers Unite to Build a Blockchain For iPhone Like Revolution in Web3

Riaolo Blockchain:– For years, the web3 industry is working on bringing as many people as it can onchain and Integrate them with the world of crypto and blockchain.

However, a US-based duo of two Software Engineers who have worked for web2 giants like Netflix, Meta, AMD are now working on reversing the whole narrative in web3. Ade Adepoju and Lu Zhang are building a blockchain that aims to bring onchain world to real world and not the vice-versa.

Their vision has received support with a $20 million seed round led by Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures. With the funding also having participation from Fabric Ventures, Mysten Labs, Susquehanna Crypto, and Variant, the VCs are betting on Abe and Lu’s Rialo blockchain platform.

With Rialo being developer under Subzero Labs, they aim to break down the steep learning curve and friction points that still plague most Web3 applications.

We are happy to announce @Subzero_Labs has raised an initial round of $20M led by @PanteraCapital to build @RialoHQ, the first Real World blockchain network.

We’re proud to have the backing of other blockchain pioneers, including @variantfund, @hashed_official, @fabric_vc,… pic.twitter.com/6LHqrfthPe

— Rialo (@RialoHQ) August 4, 2025

The Web2 Like Blockchain – Riolo 

Subzero Labs co-founders Ade Adepoju and Lu Zhang, both early engineers on the Sui network at Mysten Labs, conceived  In its introductory blog post, the team argues today’s blockchains “exist as islands, blind to real-world events”. They require users to battle clunky wallets, unpredictable fees, and fragmented identity systems.

In order to stop this, Subzero Labs’ Riolo is designed as a “real-world blockchain” that weaves together on-chain programmability with seamless Web2-style UX.

The blockchain boasts of strong technical foundations for real-world integration built by Lu, serving as the CTO at Subzero Labs. He has been a former Software Enginner at Facebook, Google and Mysten Labs. He has previously worked in Sui core team architecting the Sui Bridge and worked as the Tech lead of ML/AI infrastruction at Facebook.

At its core, Rialo combines a RISC-V–based execution environment with compatibility for the Solana Virtual Machine. It is aiming to deliver sub-second end-to-end latency and infinite horizontal scalability.

It will allow real-world data & connectivity by allowing smart contracts to pull live external data via one-line HTTPS calls and integrate with off-chain APIs directly. Other key capabilities will inclue event-Driven Transactions and confidential execution.

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Can it bring iPhone Like Revolution in web3?

Rialto is an acronym for “Rialo isn’t a layer 1” – it aims to carve out its differeny niche in the competitive space of existing Layer 1 networks.

For this it is taking inspiration from the Steve Jobs-led iPhone revolution that still drives users to buy the phone. iPhone’s breakthrough has been in unifying several standalone gadgets into a single, touch-screen device.

Much as Apple converged phone, camera, GPS and apps into one intuitive device, Rialo aims to follow the same for a blockchain in web3.  For a web-2 like UX, it will allow users to log in via email, SMS or social-login rather than wrestling with wallet-only flows.  Akin to how iOS balances app functionality with user privacy settings, it will have confidential execution built in.

The blockchain development tem does seems promising. Adepoju and Zhang have assembled a team drawn from leading technology companies – Meta, Google, Netflix, AMD, Apple, Amazon, TikTok, Citadel, and VMware – combining deep Web2 and Web3 expertise. For instance, Pantera’s former Head of Research and Partner is now serving as the Chief economist for the blockchain.

This cross-sector pedigree can surely help Rialo’s goal of making decentralized applications feel as intuitive and reliable as mainstream software.

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