Just this week, with the unlocking of SUI’s tokens and the launch of the cross-chain bridge on the mainnet, and of course, the unprecedented popularity of the meme, SUI led a new wave of growth and its market value advanced to 20th place.
Overview
Sui is a permissionless, PoS-based layer 1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs that aims to provide instant settlement and high throughput, and to support a wide range of next-generation latency-sensitive decentralized applications. The project was established after the dissolution of the original Facebook project Libra/Diem team, and has received capital attention and financing.
Market performance
According to the market data in 2024, SUI performs well as follows:
Market Cap Growth: SUI has had strong performance since Q4 2023, with market cap increasing by 120% QoQ and another 176% in Q1 2024.
Price trend: SUI showed some volatility in 2024, but the overall trend was upward. In particular, on March 27, 2024, SUI reached its all-time high of $2.18. As of October 3, 2024, the price of SUI went further and was around $1.92 at the time of writing.
Current Price: $1.92 (as of noon on October 3, 2024)
Historical High Price: $2.18 (March 27, 2024)
Upside: Up more than 100% in the past three months
Sui Ecological Project
Since Sui's independent network was launched, its ecosystem has expanded rapidly, attracting the participation of many developers and enterprises.
In this article, I will first give you a simple overview. Several projects have been launched on the Sui blockchain:
DeFi Projects:
DeifLlama shows that there are currently 5 protocols with more than 100m TVL, they are:
Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
Cetus: In the SUI ecosystem, Cetus occupies a significant market position with its TVL of US$180 million. As an efficient decentralized trading platform, Cetus provides a user-friendly trading experience, supports a wide range of token swap options, and allows users to participate in liquidity pools and thereby earn possible trading fee income.
DeepBook: The first order book DEX in Sui ecosystem, which provides a decentralized liquidity layer for Sui. DeepBook was jointly built by MoveX and Sui Foundation and has been merged into Sui's official framework.
Loan Agreement
Navi: As the largest TVL lending platform in the SUI ecosystem, Navi manages assets worth up to $410 million. This protocol allows users to pledge their assets to borrow other assets, provides flexible funding options, and supports a variety of investment and financial strategies.
Scallop: Scallop, another key lending protocol, also has a prominent position in the SUI ecosystem, with $170 million in assets under management. It provides users with additional options for using funds, supporting the financial diversity and steady growth of the SUI ecosystem.
Suilend: The Suilend lending protocol is Solend’s first project outside of the Solana ecosystem. **By launching on Sui, Solend leverages the inherent security features integrated into the Move language to provide built-in protection for its smart contracts.
Wallet Solutions
OKX Wallet: As a comprehensive digital asset management tool, OKX Wallet supports multi-chain functions, including seamless integration of SUI chain.
Sui Wallet: Sui Wallet is one of the most widely used wallets in the SUI ecosystem, known for its comprehensive functionality and user-friendly interface.
Suiet: Suiet (pronounced "sweet") is an open-source, self-hosted wallet built on the Sui blockchain.
Game Project:
SuiPlay0x1: A lightweight handheld gaming device that has already been pre-sold with over 2,000 units sold. It has native Web3 functionality and is scheduled to be launched globally in 2025.
DARKTIMES: A battle royale game on Sui, created by Animoca’s VIP game studio Blowfish Studios and supported by Animoca Brands. DARKTIMES leverages the unique properties of Web3 technology to host digital assets through Sui, including $TIMES tokens integrated into the DARKTIMES ecosystem, Genesis NFTs, and decorative items for various in-game characters.
Meme Token
This wave of memes by Sui actually refers to many successful memes on Solana, and combined with Sui's own water-based characteristics, it makes people feel familiar.
It is worth mentioning that the memes on Sui are currently volatile and involve many risks. Please be careful when you rush in and try to reduce the risk of being cut or deceived.
The following are some data provided by Coingecko for reference only.
Coingecko
$Hippo: Hippopotamus in the water
Market Cap: $128,555,689
Twitter：https://x.com/blubsui
Telegram：https://t.me/HIPPO_SUI
Project introduction: Due to the recent market cap exceeding 100 million, it has received widespread attention. The official website shows that this community will donate a certain percentage of profits to wildlife conservation organizations around the world.
$BLUB: Pepe in the water
Current Market Value: $50,518,551
Twitter：https://x.com/blubsui
Telegram：https://t.me/blubsui
Project introduction: $BLUB started in late June 2024. The image design is similar to Pepe, like "Pepe in the water", which is a combination of Pepe and Sui's ecological water drop image. Compared with Hippo, BLUB is slightly inferior in pulling the market, but Sui's meme is still in its early stages. Considering the continuous rotation of memes, it is also worth paying attention to whether it may be the second project with a market value of over 100 million.
$FUD: Dog in the water
Current Market Value: $36,209,263
Twitter：：https://x.com/fudthepug
Telegram：https://t.me/fudthepug
Telegram Bot：https://t.me/FUDSuiBot
Project Introduction: FUD is an airdrop issued to the Sui NFT community in December 2023. Interestingly, $FUD has no team share or pre-investment share. Due to its early launch, $FUD is more complete in terms of community and ecology. On October 3, it also released a telegram bot that can quickly conduct transactions. In addition, FUD is also widely integrated into many DeFi and GameFi projects of Sui.
Team members
Mysten Labs is a research and development company founded by former executives from Meta (Facebook), Novi Research and the chief architect of the Diem blockchain and Move programming language.
Evan Cheng: Co-founder and CEO of SUI, formerly Director of Engineering at Facebook, responsible for Novi research.
Sam Blackshear: Technical lead and lead designer of the Move programming language.
George Danezis: Chief Scientist, PhD from Cambridge, Professor at USL, with extensive experience in blockchain and privacy protection technologies.
Avery Ching: Chief Technology Officer, former senior engineer at Facebook.
It can be seen that the team has a very close relationship with Meta. After the failure of Meta's payment stablecoin Diem (formerly Libra) business in 2019, it seemed to have disappeared in Crypto; however, the pressure from legislation and compliance has been hanging high. As for Meta, whether it will break through with Aptos and Sui, where former team members were, is still unknown.
Token Economics
Total supply: 10 billion SUI coins
Distribution:
Allocations beyond 2030: 52.2% (522 million)
Community Reserve: 10.6% (106 million)
Staking Subsidies: 9.5% (94.941 million shares)
Series A Investors: 7.1% (71.417 million)
Series B Investors: 7% (69.556 million shares)
Early Contributors: 6.1% (61.337 million copies)
Community Access Program: 5.8% (58.2 million)
Mysten Labs Treasury: 1.6% (16.348 million)
Unlock Plan
About 52.2% of the tokens will be unlocked after 2030 to ensure long-term project funding and development support. Regular token unlocking may cause market volatility, so investors need to pay close attention to relevant announcements and economic activities.
Economic Model
SUI's economic model aims to maintain the activity and growth of the network through sufficient staking rewards and community incentives, while driving the actual use of tokens through innovations in smart contracts and decentralized applications.
Inflation and Supply Dynamics: SUI has designed a supply model that balances inflation and scarcity to ensure flexibility in early development and value support in the later stages.
Staking Mechanism: Through token holders’ participation in staking, SUI’s economic model emphasizes the value of decentralization and community participation.
It is worth mentioning that CyberCapital's founder pointed out that in Sui's publicly stated token economy, the locked tokens are locked by third-party custodians. Unlocking these "unallocated" supplies in 2030 is just a promise without support. We must trust the foundation, which has provided itself with all legal ways out. Custodians usually do not provide lock-ups!
Key events in 2024
In 2024, Sui is actively making plans in all aspects, from technology to market:
1. Network iterative update:
The SUI network underwent two important updates in September. Currently, the Sui mainnet has been upgraded to version V1.34.2, and the protocol has been upgraded to version 60.
2. New platforms and tools:
Hydropower Program: An eight-week virtual accelerator program that provides hands-on workshops and mentorship from industry experts to technical teams to advance the SUI ecosystem. Application deadline is October 16
Enoki Platform: An enterprise solutions platform launched by Mysten Labs that allows enterprises to embed public ledger solutions into their applications, products and services.
3. Circle’s native USDC is now available
SuiCircle, a global fintech company, will soon launch USDC on the Sui network. This integration will enhance Sui's practicality and interoperability, bringing higher liquidity and a simplified trading experience. Circle's native USDC will enhance Sui's competitiveness in the DeFi field and support cross-chain asset transfers through the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), allowing users to more easily build cross-chain processes from other chains (such as Solana, Ethereum).
4. Sui Bridge officially launched on the mainnet
Sui Bridge will be officially launched on the mainnet in 2024, providing a native connection between Ethereum and Sui. The launch of Sui Bridge marks an important step forward in the interoperability of the Sui network, enabling users to seamlessly transfer assets between Ethereum and Sui. This bridge solution not only improves the efficiency of cross-chain asset transfers, but also provides more opportunities for DeFi and other application areas. Sui Bridge is secured by the verification nodes of the Sui network, ensuring the security and reliability of cross-chain transactions.
5. Grayscale
In August this year, Grayscale launched the SUI Trust Fund Grayscale Sui Trust, and its asset management scale (AUM) quickly exceeded US$1 million. Grayscale SUI Trust (the "Trust") is one of the first securities that fully invests in SUI ("SUI") and derives value from its price. It enables investors to gain exposure to SUI in the form of securities while avoiding direct purchase, storage and safekeeping of SUI.
As of October 2, Grayscale’s official website shows that the asset management scale has exceeded US$2.5 million, and the net asset value per share (Net Asst Value per Share (NAV)) is US$26.99.
6. Community Activities:
For more Sui events, please visit: https://sui.io/community-events-hub
Sui Builder House Singapore Station:
A community event showcasing major announcements and groundbreaking collaborations from SUI.
(1) Circle’s native USDC will soon be available on Sui
(2) Walrus releases white paper and token
(3) Decrypt and Walrus collaborate to store media content
(4) Electric car brand DeLorean Labs and Sui collaborate to accelerate innovation
(5) Fighting sports media ONE Championship uses Sui to change sports
Sui Connect New York:
SUI hosts community meetups that aim to bring the Web3 community together to share ideas, learn about the blockchain industry, and communicate with other builders in the ecosystem.
Sui technical advantages
The Sui blockchain platform provides several unique advantages in technology, which not only drive its innovation in the field of cryptocurrency, but also bring significant benefits to developers and users. The following are the main technical advantages of Sui:
1. Object-oriented account model
Sui adopts a revolutionary object-oriented account model, which treats all assets and smart contracts as independent objects, each with its own properties and methods.
This model provides greater flexibility and scalability, making asset management more intuitive and efficient. Objects can operate independently of each other, allowing parallel processing and updates, significantly increasing the network's throughput and responsiveness.
Sui's object-oriented approach provides a more intuitive user experience, which can be understood by analogy with owning a house or a car. On the Sui platform, you can freely lend, transfer, or modify the status of these objects without the need for complex accounting or tracking of small amounts as in the UTxO model. In addition, each object in Sui has self-integrity and can be managed independently, which allows users and developers to view their operations as interactions with real-world objects rather than just operating a series of abstract ledger records.
In my opinion, #sui's object account abstraction is a combination of the eth and btc utxo account models, and is an abstraction that combines concurrency and decentralization in the new generation of blockchain accounts.
2. Native randomness
Sui provides native on-chain randomness support, which is achieved through secure random numbers generated by its network of verification nodes. This native randomness provides a solid foundation for the development of various applications, especially in scenarios involving probability games, random allocation of NFTs, and any scenario that requires fair and unpredictable results. Compared with randomness solutions that rely on external sources (such as oracles), Sui's native randomness does not require trust in third parties, reduces the risk of manipulation, and improves the overall security and transparency of the system.
3. Native zk (zero-knowledge proof)
Sui supports native zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), a technology that allows the legitimacy of transactions to be verified without revealing any specific information. ZKP plays an important role in protecting user privacy, allowing users to verify transactions while ensuring that personal data is kept confidential.
Sui's zkLogin is a native feature that is the first truly trustless, reliable and user-friendly authentication mechanism in Web3. With zkLogin, developers can create a convenient registration and login process, allowing users to easily create and manage Sui addresses using familiar Web2 credentials such as Google or Facebook.
Prospects and Challenges
Advantages:
Superior Technology: SUI utilizes the Move programming language, providing greater security and scalability, solving the problems of existing smart contract platforms.
Strong Team: With top talents from Facebook and Novi Research, SUI has a high level of R&D.
Market popularity: SUI has received extensive market attention and capital support, including active cooperation with game companies and important cooperation with Red Bull Racing.
challenge:
Market competition: Faces fierce competition from other L1 projects such as Solana and Aptos.
Subsequent driving force of Meme: Although the Meme project in Sui ecosystem has attracted some new attention by pumping up the price, overall, this pool is still relatively small.
Lack of blockbuster applications: In the last bull market, Solana had ecological DAPPs such as Pumpfun and MagicEden, which had a strong wealth effect and could break the circle, but they have not been seen on Sui.
Transparency issues: The community has certain doubts about token economics and project transparency, which requires the project team to actively respond
in conclusion
With its innovative technical architecture and strong team support, the SUI project has the potential for long-term development in the future. In particular, its technical advantages such as object-oriented account model, native randomness and zero-knowledge proof make SUI unique in the blockchain field. However, despite SUI's significant technological breakthroughs, future challenges remain.
Therefore, although SUI's technological prospects are promising, potential investors should pay close attention to the progress of its ecological development, especially the introduction of new applications and innovations, and conduct a detailed assessment of market risks before making investment decisions.
