What Is SUI Blockchain?

By Gaurav Roy

There’s a blockchain out there that can handle up to ~297,000 transactions per second (TPS). Despite a more centralized validator set, this specific network uses 2,000 full nodes and a whole ecosystem of dApps, NFTs, DeFi, and GameFi to offer a secure yet scalable infrastructure. This is SUI, a blockchain that’s giving even the fastest chains like Solana (65,000 TPS) a run for its crypto.

By focusing on speed and efficiency—with only 100 validators for faster throughput—Sui tackles the blockchain trilemma of balancing decentralization, scalability, and security. 

Blockchains value decentralization, yet increasing the number of miners and validators can slow down consensus, reducing network throughput. To address this scalability challenge, various blockchains employ solutions like layer 2 protocols, sharding, off-chain processing, and consensus algorithm modifications.

So, how exactly does Sui achieve this incredible speed? And what does that mean for its ecosystem? Let’s dive in and explore all the cogs that make up the SUI wheel!

What Is the SUI Blockchain?

Sui is a decentralized layer 1 blockchain that offers great transaction speed at a low cost. This permissionless blockchain is designed to support a wide range of applications.

Being a layer 1 blockchain means Sui provides the underlying infrastructure for a system of validations and transactions, much like the Ethereum or Bitcoin networks. But what sets it apart from other L1s is its focus on instant transaction finality, reduced latency, and increased transaction speed. 

In short, Sui aims to increase its scalability without compromising on security by using a combination of the native programming language Move, parallel processing of transactions, and delegated proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. 

Recent upgrades to Sui’s consensus have made the chain even faster: the introduction of the Mysticeti engine in 2024 slashed consensus latency by ~80%, bringing finality down to about 39 milliseconds even at high throughput (e.g. 100k TPS)​. 

This low-latency, high-throughput capability positions Sui among the fastest and most capable Layer-1 networks in the world.

The History of SUI Blockchain

Sui’s journey began with its incentivized testnet in August 2022, followed by the mainnet launch on May 3, 2023. SUI was developed by Mysten Labs, a team that includes former executives from Meta’s Novi project—originally part of Facebook’s Libra initiative. Drawing on their experience from Libra, which aimed to create a global digital currency amid intense regulatory challenges—SUI was designed as a secure, scalable, and high-performance blockchain solution.

Sui secured $300 million in a Series B funding round in September 2022, backed by venture giants like Circle, Binance Labs, Lightspeed Venture Partners, a16z, and NCSoft. 

Sui’s ecosystem is defined by its distinctive brand logo—a “droplet” of collective ingenuity that grows into a powerful force. This droplet symbolizes how every developer, user, and enthusiast contributes a small, vital piece to the larger whole, driving the network’s evolution and pushing boundaries in Web3 innovation. 

At launch, the Sui Foundation partnered with centralized exchanges (CEXs) such as Kucoin, OKX, and Bybit to sell tokens to their Discord community and exchange users. Binance users staked over $4 billion worth of crypto tokens to farm SUI coins.

Since then, Sui has achieved significant milestones: a 2024 partnership with Franklin Templeton Digital Assets boosted ecosystem credibility, VanEck launched a SUI ETN in Europe in November 2024. For those of you who don’t know, an ETN is basically a tradable note that lets you invest in SUI’s performance like buying a stock (or ETF), without having to actually hold the SUI token.

Through active community engagement, creative dApp initiatives, and a culture that values transparency and collaboration, Sui has cultivated a brand that is as dynamic and adaptive as the blockchain itself. In 2024, Sui launched its Basecamp, a unique conference that breaks down  the upcoming Sui Basecamp conference, happening May 1 and 2, 2025, doubles down on the network’s growing global presence and community efforts by setting expectations for the network in 2025 and beyond.

How Does SUI Blockchain Work?

The Sui blockchain has three core elements that work together to process instant settlements at a low cost: Move language, parallel transaction execution, and the Sui Consensus Engine.

SUI Blockchain’s Language: Move

The Sui network uses the Move programming language to execute smart contracts. The programming language was originally used by Meta’s Diem and has since been adopted by other blockchain platforms, notably Aptos. ​

Move is a cross-platform language without blockchain-specific concepts like accounts, transactions, time, and cryptography. So how does it work?

Most blockchains are public ledgers tracking transactions as changes in wallet balances (account states, visible on your crypto wallet), but Sui uses an object-centric approach—monitoring state changes to individual objects (like tokens or digital assets). This enables transactions on Sui to involve mutable, immutable, or multi-party interactions without the typical constraints of wallet-to-wallet transfers on traditional blockchains.

Finally, the Sui blockchain also uses the Move Prover. In short, this mechanism allows developers to verify that their code executes as intended. Basically, it means you can check the validity of any smart contract or blockchain app. 

Enhanced in 2024 with features like Enums, macro functions, and Method syntax, Move now offers developers greater flexibility. The Move Prover tool ensures code reliability, allowing developers to verify smart contract execution, a critical feature for secure dApp development.

Delegated Proof-of-Stake Consensus (DPoS)

To achieve consensus, Sui uses a specific type of proof-of-stake consensus mechanism named  Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS).

In Sui’s DPoS system, there is a fixed set of validators who process transactions within each epoch (a period of 24 hours). SUI holders select a set of validators based on their share of the total stake. This is determined by the amount of SUI tokens staked by holders with them.

In exchange for operating and securing the network, the blockchain validator receives staking rewards in SUI coins. The system then distributes the rewards to all coin holders who delegated to that validator’s stake after deducting a small commission fee for the validator.

Staked coins are locked into the system only for a specific epoch. Then token holders can pull out their tokens or change their delegated validator once the epoch changes.

It’s worth noting that the network currently has only 100 validators. This allows for faster transaction processing and higher efficiency. But at the same time, this means it is far more centralized than most other blockchains and is more vulnerable to 51% attack.

But why is that exactly? Put simply, the lower the number of validators, the higher the chance of collusion to control the network and manipulate it to one’s own benefit. The Nakamoto coefficient, which measures how many validators must collaborate to threaten a blockchain, highlights this vulnerability clearly. To counteract this low validator count, SUI operates using 2,000 full nodes, enhancing network decentralization.  

Parallel Transaction Execution

To increase scalability, Sui uses parallel transaction execution. To explain, most blockchains execute transactions sequentially, meaning one by one. Sui blockchain executes transactions in parallel instead. This allows it to process up to 297,000 transactions per second (TPS) compared to Ethereum’s 15 TPS and Solana’s 4k TPS.

Another interesting feature of the chain is how it differentiates transactions into two categories: simple and complex.

For simple transactions, such as sending tokens from one account to another, a transaction may bypass the consensus protocol and process almost instantly. By removing the need for unrelated assets to go through the relatively longer and more expensive consensus process, Sui is able to increase its throughput.

For complex transactions, Sui leverages Narwhal and Bullshark.

To explain, Narwhal is a directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based mempool. It decouples transactions from its consensus engine, Bullshark, and ensures that pending transactions requiring consensus are quickly identified.

Bullshark is for the specific ordering of transactions and allows slower validators to contribute.

So now you know about its inner workings, what about its coin? 

What Is SUI Coin?

SUI is the native coin of the Sui blockchain. 

It covers gas fees, on-chain transactions, staking, and governance participation. With a 10 billion token cap, the circulating supply has grown to approximately 3.09 billion by February 2025, up from 528 million in 2023, reflecting phased releases. 

The Sui Foundation holds 50% of the supply for delegation, grants, R&D, and subsidies, with 10% in Mysten Labs’ treasury, 20% for early contributors, 14% for funding sales, and 6% for its Community Access Program. This structure fuels ecosystem growth, like the SUIHub Accelerator Program offering up to $200,000 per project. 

The SUI Ecosystem: Explained

Sui may be an early-stage project, but it’s already quite popular, and its ecosystem is still growing. For example, its wallet browser extension has been downloaded over 1 million times.

Today, many developers are building a range of decentralized applications (dApps) on the network in several categories:

In SUI’s DeFi corner, decentralized exchange (DEX) Cetus is the biggest protocol in terms of total value locked (TVL). Turbos, BaySwap, and AnimeSwap are other popular DEXs on Sui. Besides DEXs, yield projects like Mole and crypto lending projects like Scallop are also popular platforms on SUI.

When it comes to NFTs, Wizard Land and Baby Apes Society are two popular projects that have managed to capture broad Sui community support. The network was actually abuzz with the NFT frenzy right after its launch, thanks to its advanced capabilities, such as dynamic NFTs that update in real-time.

Dynamic NFTs are also helping bring the GameFi crowd to Sui with the competitive card game Final Stardust, the social farming game Cosmocadia, and the free-to-play fighting game Rushdown Revolt.

In addition to NFTs, GameFi, and DeFi, developers are also building SocialFi projects like Read2N, Peeranha, and ComingChat, as well as oracles, launchpads, bridges, and domain names.

SUI Vesting Schedules

​Sui’s tokenomics are designed with a structured vesting schedule to promote stability and long-term commitment within its ecosystem. 

Community reserves (10.6%) unlocked about 29.55% at launch, with the remainder vested gradually over several years. 

Stake subsidies (9.49%) are unlocking linearly across seven years, while Series A (9.49%) and Series B (6.96%) investors face a 12-month cliff followed by linear vesting. 

Early contributors also follow a 12-month cliff with nonlinear vesting over the next year. 

Mysten Labs Treasury’s allocation vests over 78 months after a 6-month cliff. 

Meanwhile, allocations for public sales and Binance Launchpool largely unlocked at token generation. 

Overall, about half the supply remains under long-term lockup, stabilizing token economics and growth. This structure fuels ecosystem growth efforts within the community, like the SUIHub Accelerator Program offering up to $200,000 per project.

The SUI Ecosystem: Explained

Sui may be an early-stage project, but it’s already quite popular, and its ecosystem is still growing. For example, its wallet browser extension has been downloaded over 1 million times.

Today, many developers are building a range of decentralized applications (dApps) on the network in several categories:

In SUI’s DeFi corner, decentralized exchange (DEX) Cetus is the biggest protocol in terms of total value locked (TVL). Sui’s DeFi sector hit a $2 billion TVL peak in January 2025, with Cetus Protocol leading alongside Turbos Finance, Sudo Finance, and Suilend, which offers lending and borrowing. The integration of stablecoins like USDY and USDC has boosted liquidity, with a $500 million stablecoin market cap achieved in February 2025, driving platforms like DeepBook—a central limit order book. 

When it comes to NFTs, Wizard Land and Baby Apes Society are two popular projects that have managed to capture broad Sui community support. The network was actually abuzz with the NFT frenzy right after its launch, thanks to its advanced capabilities, such as dynamic NFTs that update in real-time. 

Sui’s NFT ecosystem also extends to community-driven collectibles and innovative use cases. Sweebs – dubbed the “culture layer” of Sui – is one example of dynamic NFTs used to boost user engagement. 

Sweebs are an NFT collection launched by the Sui community (HSUI) that can change and unlock new traits over time, encouraging holders to stay involved. By allowing NFTs to evolve based on interactions or real-world events, projects like Sweebs make collecting more interactive and retain user interest longer than static JPEGs. Sui’s dynamic NFT technology makes such evolutions efficient, since an NFT’s attributes can be updated without needing to burn and re-mint tokens​. 

Dynamic NFTs are also helping bring the GameFi crowd to Sui with the competitive card game Final Stardust, the social farming game Cosmocadia, and the free-to-play fighting game Rushdown Revolt.

In addition to NFTs, GameFi, and DeFi, developers are also building SocialFi projects like Read2N, Peeranha, and ComingChat, as well as oracles, launchpads, bridges, and domain names. The BIRDS GameFi project, launched as a Telegram mini-app in July 2024, has become a standout success by fusing SocialFi and gaming to onboard millions of users—many of whom are new to blockchain—with its frictionless, airdrop-to-play model. 

Players begin with an NFT egg, level it up through group chats and daily check-ins, and eventually hatch a digital bird that battles for tokens. Powered by Sui’s infrastructure, which auto-creates wallets via its Kiosk and wallet APIs along with user-friendly features like sponsored transactions and zkLogin, BIRDS has distributed over 57 trillion $FUD tokens and reached a $38M market cap by late 2024.

This explosive growth bridges Web2 and Web3 by turning a Telegram community into active on-chain users and also makes Sui a hub for Web3 gaming. One of the more notable contributions to SUI’s growth was the memecoin frenzy that translated itself across chains.

With SUI’s memecoin craze, TVL leaped from under $250M to $1.75B by the end of 2024, and daily DEX trading hit as high as $551M, especially during Q4 when meme trading peaked. Sui’s ultra-low fees and fast transactions made it a go-to environment for quick meme trades, drawing in lots of new users. 

Top memecoins on Sui include Sudeng ($HIPPO), famous for its cute hippo mascot and charity work, which peaked at a $160M market cap. Fud the Pug ($FUD) gained a huge following with its fun pug theme, while coins like BLUB, AAA Cat, and Suiman each brought their own twist—like staking rewards or deflationary tokenomics—to the mix. 

Even though Sui’s meme scene is smaller compared to giants like Ethereum and Solana, its faster and cheaper transactions made it a popular spot for quick, fun trades and helped it stand out in its own way.

Start Using the SUI Blockchain

SUI is seeing a lot of activity. But how exactly do you work with it?

To get started with the SUI blockchain in a secure environment, you can make use of the Ledger ecosystem. For this, install the Sui app on your Ledger device. Then, create and connect your SUI Wallet, which you can choose from the official SUI website, to your device to interact with the latest NFTs, DeFi, and dApps. 

Now, you are ready to explore the ecosystem with absolute security.

Because as you know, security is the priority, and using the SUI wallet protected by your Ledger will ensure that your private keys are never exposed to the internet. 

When interacting with smart contracts, of which SUI network offers plenty, it’s important to keep your private key offline. Since Ledger wallets store your private keys in a specialized chip  (The Secure Element), they are unreachable via an internet connection. 

As long as you protect your secret recovery phrase, your device cannot grant bad actors access to your private key, meaning you are always in your control.

But cutting edge security of self-custody takes more than just chips or design—Ledger’s next-gen devices take your average crypto experience to a whole new level of carefree. The Ledger Stax and Flex come equipped with the world’s first Secure Touchscreens, driven directly by the secure element chips. Now you can buy crypto easily from third-parties within Ledger Live without worrying about a second screen you can’t truly trust in the first place. 

With a combination of the battle-tested Ledger Security model, the Secure Touchscreen, and initiatives like Ledger Recover and Clear Signing, you can trust that what you see on a Ledger screen is exactly what you sign. Upgrade now for a complete, future-proof self-custody experience!