Sui

Sui (SUI) is a Layer 1 smart contract blockchain developed by Mysten Labs, a company founded by former lead engineers from Meta's blockchain research division. It is designed as a high-speed, low-fee platform for digital asset ownership and Web3 applications, and its mainnet launched in May 2023. The project drew significant venture backing, including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, and Circle Ventures.

How it works

Sui takes an unusual approach to blockchain data. Instead of a single ledger of accounts, it organizes on-chain data into independent objects. This object-centric model allows the network to execute many unrelated transactions in parallel rather than strictly one after another, which is central to its throughput and near-instant finality goals. Smart contracts are written in Move, a language originally created for Meta's Diem project and designed with asset safety in mind.

The network is secured by Proof of Stake: validators stake SUI to process transactions and earn rewards, and token holders can delegate their stake to validators. Transaction fees partly flow into a storage fund that compensates validators for keeping historical data available over the long term.

Token and ecosystem role

SUI has a capped maximum supply of 10 billion tokens, released gradually according to the project's distribution schedule. The token is used to pay gas fees, for staking, and for governance. Beyond core infrastructure, Sui offers developer-facing tools such as zkLogin, which lets users authenticate with familiar web credentials, and sponsored transactions, where an application covers gas costs on a user's behalf. These features aim to reduce the friction of onboarding mainstream users, and the Sui ecosystem now spans DeFi, gaming, and NFT applications built around its object model.