What is Sui? Sui is a permissionless layer-1 blockchain developed for fast, low-latency applications involving digital assets, payments, games, decentralized finance, and other consumer-facing use cases. Its native token is SUI, which supports transaction fees, staking, and activity across the network.
How Sui works
Sui uses the Move programming language, originally developed for Meta’s Diem project. Move follows a resource-oriented design intended to protect digital assets from accidental duplication or unauthorized copying.
The network’s main architectural distinction is its object-centric data model. Assets and on-chain data are represented as programmable objects with individual ownership, metadata, and behavior. Objects can be owned by one address, shared between users, or made immutable. Because the network can identify which objects a transaction affects, unrelated transactions can often be processed in parallel rather than forced through one global sequence.
Sui uses parallel execution for non-conflicting transactions and a consensus path for transactions involving shared objects. Its Mysticeti consensus protocol is a Byzantine fault-tolerant, directed acyclic graph based system that allows validators to propose and process blocks concurrently. Mysticeti launched on mainnet in July 2024, while Mysticeti v2 focused on reducing validator resource requirements and extending low-latency performance.
Sui also includes zkLogin, which lets users create accounts through familiar OAuth services such as Google, Facebook, and Twitch while using zero-knowledge proofs to protect the underlying credentials. Sponsored transactions allow an application or another address to pay transaction fees on behalf of a user.
Who is behind Sui and where is it based?
Sui was created by Mysten Labs, founded in 2021 by five former Meta engineers associated with Diem, Libra, and Novi. The founders are Evan Cheng, chief executive officer; Sam Blackshear, creator of Move and chief technology officer; Adeniyi Abiodun, chief product officer; George Danezis, chief scientist; and Kostas Chalkias, chief cryptographer.
Sui is a separate project from Meta’s former blockchain initiatives, although its technology and founding team grew out of that work. Sui mainnet launched on 3 May 2023. Mysten Labs is publicly associated with Palo Alto, California, United States. The Sui Foundation is a separate organization that supports ecosystem development, grants, and community programs. Its official privacy policy lists an address in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
Consensus, security, and tokenomics
Sui uses delegated proof of stake. Validators stake SUI directly or receive delegated stake from token holders. Validator voting power is weighted by stake, and committees process and certify network activity during defined epochs. The security model combines economic incentives, cryptographic signatures, Move’s asset-safety features, and Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus.
The maximum supply is 10,000,000,000 SUI, while the circulating supply is 4,096,537,147 SUI. The announced distribution allocates 50% to the Community Reserve, 20% to early contributors, 14% to investors, 10% to the Mysten Labs treasury, and 6% to the Community Access Program and application testers. Tokens enter circulation progressively through release schedules rather than all becoming available at launch.
Network users pay gas and storage fees in SUI. Storage fees are placed into a storage fund designed to compensate future validators for retaining historical data, and users may receive a partial rebate when stored data is deleted. Official materials also describe transaction burning, storage-related removal from active circulation, and a Foundation-led buyback program funded by stablecoin yield. The net supply effect depends on burns, storage activity, scheduled releases, and staking-related distributions.
Main use cases and ecosystem
Sui supports decentralized exchanges, lending, liquid staking, stablecoins, derivatives, and on-chain order books. DeepBook provides shared liquidity infrastructure, while NAVI, Suilend, and Cetus are examples of DeFi applications in the ecosystem.
The object model is also designed for games and NFTs, where inventories, characters, collectibles, and other assets may change frequently. zkLogin and sponsored transactions reduce onboarding and gas-management friction for consumer applications. Payments are another focus, including gasless stablecoin transfers and programmable settlement conditions.
The wider Sui Stack includes Walrus for decentralized storage, Seal for encryption and access control, Nautilus for verifiable off-chain computation, and SuiNS for on-chain naming. Partnerships and integrations reported by official sources include Bridge, a Stripe company, for USDsui; 21Shares and Franklin Templeton Digital Assets; Lineup Games; Daya for gasless stablecoin payments in Africa; Erebor Bank, N.A.; Securitize; Neuberger Berman; and tZERO.
Market position and development
Sui’s main advantages are its object-based state model, parallel execution, Move-based asset safety, fast finality, and consumer-focused tools. Its specialized architecture can process independent asset operations efficiently, although applications using shared objects still require consensus ordering and developers must understand Sui-specific ownership and storage models.
As of 1 October 2026, SUI was priced at $1.16, with a 24h change of +0.54%. Its market cap was $4.76B (rank #36), and 24h volume was $858.48M. The all-time high was $5.35, the current price is 78.28% below it.
Current development priorities include Mysticeti optimization, Bitcoin-related finance through Hashi, confidential financial applications, tokenized assets, stablecoin payments, and agentic commerce. Sui’s 2026 initiatives also include developer fellowships and infrastructure for programmable payment channels, while Sui Basecamp 2026 is scheduled for 7–8 October 2026 in Singapore.