SUI

Project Background

Sui is a permissionless Layer 1 blockchain built around an object-centric architecture. Instead of treating blockchain state primarily as a collection of account balances and contract storage, Sui represents digital assets and other on-chain resources as programmable objects with defined ownership and permissions.

The network uses Move, an open-source programming language originally developed for the Diem project and subsequently adapted for Sui. Sui Move adds functionality and restrictions around Move's object model to support the creation, ownership, transfer, and mutation of programmable on-chain assets.

Sui's object model allows the network to identify transactions that do not depend on the same shared state and execute them in parallel. Transactions involving independently owned objects can therefore avoid the same sequencing requirements as transactions that modify shared objects.

Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTBs) allow multiple Move operations to be combined into a single atomic transaction. A PTB can compose calls across different packages and use the output of one operation as the input to another, supporting complex application workflows while reducing the number of separate transactions required.

Sui uses a delegated Proof of Stake consensus system in which SUI holders can delegate tokens to validators. Validators process transactions and participate in consensus, while delegated stake contributes to the economic security of the network.

The network also incorporates a storage fund designed to account for the long-term cost of maintaining data onchain. Gas fees are used to price network operations, incentivize validators, and help prevent spam and denial-of-service attacks.

Sui supports a broad range of applications including decentralized finance, tokenized assets, NFTs, gaming, payments, decentralized exchanges, stablecoins, and on-chain order book infrastructure. The Sui stack also includes primitives such as zkLogin, Seal, Nautilus, Walrus, and DeepBook.

History

Sui was developed by Mysten Labs, whose founding team included former engineers and researchers from the Novi and Diem projects. The project's design built on experience developing Move and distributed systems while creating a new blockchain architecture centered on programmable objects.

Sui's early development included a public Devnet and an incentivized Testnet designed to test validator coordination, transaction execution, tokenomics, developer tooling, and network performance. Testnet development introduced features including sponsored transactions, Kiosk, and Programmable Transaction Blocks.

Sui Mainnet launched on May 3, 2023. At launch, the network was supported by more than 100 validators and more than 400 nodes, providing the foundation for a permissionless public blockchain.

Following mainnet launch, the ecosystem expanded into decentralized finance, decentralized exchanges, gaming, digital assets, and other applications. DeepBook, Sui's native on-chain central limit order book infrastructure, launched in July 2023.

Development has continued across the protocol, Move language, validator infrastructure, developer tooling, and application stack. In 2026, Sui's development focus has increasingly included payments, stablecoins, institutional finance, confidentiality, interoperability, AI agents, and autonomous on-chain execution.

In May 2026, Sui introduced protocol-level gasless stablecoin transfers for supported stablecoins, allowing users and businesses to send supported stablecoins without separately holding SUI for transaction gas.

In August 2026, Sui announced work toward quantum-resistant account security, including native ML-DSA-65 signatures and hash-based SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s support for Move smart contracts. The planned rollout remains subject to testing and independent audits.

Tokenomics and Emissions

SUI has a capped total supply of 10 billion tokens. Approximately 5% of the total supply was circulating when Sui Mainnet launched, with the remaining tokens scheduled for release over time through the network's token release and allocation programs.

SUI serves four primary economic functions within the Sui ecosystem: paying gas fees, staking to secure the network, providing native on-chain liquidity, and participating in governance.

The original token allocation was divided among the Community Reserve, early contributors, investors, Mysten Labs, and the Community Access Program. The Sui Foundation manages portions of the supply designated for ecosystem development, including grants, community programs, research, and other initiatives.

SUI staking uses delegated Proof of Stake. Token holders can delegate their SUI to validators, with staking rewards determined by the network's staking economics and validator performance. Staked SUI contributes to validator voting weight and network security.

Sui's gas mechanism is designed to provide predictable transaction pricing while compensating validators for computation and storage-related costs. The network also maintains a storage fund that accounts for the ongoing cost of retaining on-chain data.

Sui's token release schedule extends across multiple years and is periodically updated by the Sui Foundation. The official supply schedule provides current circulating supply information and planned releases.

Roadmap

Sui's ongoing development is focused on scaling the network, improving developer and user experience, expanding financial infrastructure, and adding new capabilities for privacy, interoperability, and autonomous applications.

Performance and execution remain core priorities. Sui's object-centric architecture is designed to support parallel transaction execution, while continued protocol work targets higher throughput, lower latency, and more efficient validator and storage infrastructure.

Sui is expanding its financial infrastructure through DeepBook, stablecoin payments, tokenized assets, decentralized finance, and institutional applications. Current development also includes infrastructure for Bitcoin-based financial products and additional interoperability between Sui and external networks.

Confidentiality is another major area of development. Sui is integrating confidential transfers, Seal for programmable access to sensitive data and assets, and Nautilus for confidential off-chain computation with verifiable execution.

Post-quantum security is being developed as part of the network's longer-term cryptographic roadmap. Sui has announced plans for ML-DSA-65 native account authentication and SLH-DSA support in Move smart contracts, with mainnet deployment dependent on testing and audits.

Sui is also developing infrastructure for AI agents and autonomous applications. The project's 2026 development direction emphasizes programmable assets, policy-controlled execution, verifiable computation, identity, and financial workflows that can operate with reduced human intervention.

The Sui ecosystem continues to expand its developer stack through Move tooling, SDKs, full nodes, RPC infrastructure, indexing, Walrus decentralized storage, zkLogin, Seal, Nautilus, DeepBook, and other application primitives.

Project Links

Website:
https://www.sui.io/

Whitepaper:
Sui Smart Contracts Platform Whitepaper

Documentation:
Sui Documentation

Explorer:
SuiScan

GitHub:
Sui GitHub

Development

Sui Repository
Developer Documentation
Move
Sui API Reference
Sui Releases

Market Data

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CoinGecko
CoinPaprika

Community

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