Publication date: October 10, 2024

What is Sui?

Sui is a new cryptocurrency designed as a Layer 1 platform, similar to Ethereum and Solana, but with a focus on high transaction speed and low cost. This makes Sui particularly suitable for distributed applications (dApps) and smart contracts. With the rise of smart contracts, Sui is increasingly being used for innovative applications in the digital economy. At the core of this platform is the Move programming framework, which enables more efficient and secure smart contracts than older programming languages used on other platforms.

One of the distinguishing features of Sui is its transaction processing model. The network performs transactions in parallel, leading to high scalability and efficiency even with a large influx of users and transactions. Unlike other platforms where transactions are processed sequentially, Sui ensures that users do not have to wait, making it ideal for fast and cost-efficient dApps. With its innovative network design, Sui provides an important solution to the growing demand for faster crypto transactions.

How does Sui work?

Sui uses a unique transaction processing model where multiple transactions can be processed simultaneously. This parallel processing model makes the network more efficient compared to platforms that process transactions sequentially, such as Ethereum. As a result, the network remains fast and responsive even during periods of high activity, making it ideal for everyday crypto users and developers.

In addition, Sui supports smart contracts through the Move programming framework. Move is a new programming language specifically designed to develop more secure and better optimized contracts. This provides an extra layer of security, as mistakes in smart contracts can result in large losses. By combining these technologies, Sui enables its users to develop complex applications with minimal risk of delays or errors.

History of Sui

Sui was developed by Mysten Labs, a blockchain innovation company founded in 2021. Mysten Labs was led by former employees of Meta's (formerly Facebook) Diem project. The goal was to create a revolutionary crypto platform that would be more scalable, secure and flexible than existing platforms. Thanks to these origins, Sui managed to attract a lot of attention from the beginning, mainly because of the team's expertise.

In 2022, Sui reached an important milestone with the launch of its mainnet, giving developers worldwide access to the platform. Since then, Sui has developed rapidly, with increasing support from developer communities and investors. Sui's ecosystem grew rapidly thanks to its potential for decentralized applications, particularly in the DeFi (distributed financial services) space.

Recently, Sui has also formed several strategic partnerships, including with major players in the crypto world such as Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin. These partnerships allow users to use USDC stablecoins on the Sui network, significantly increasing the usability and reliability of the platform. Through collaborations such as these, Sui continues to strengthen its position in the market and provide new opportunities for users and developers.

What's going on at Sui?

The recent integration of USDC on the Sui network has attracted a lot of attention. Stablecoins such as USDC offer a stable value, unlike other volatile tokens, making it more attractive for users to use them for payments and transactions. This integration provides an important foundation for financial applications on the Sui network, including decentralized exchanges and lending platforms. This is a crucial step for Sui, as it allows it to become a major player in the decentralized financial world.

In addition, Sui is dealing with a large amount of token unlocks. In a token unlock, tokens that were previously locked are released for trading. This can put pressure on the price of a cryptocurrency as supply increases. Sui is about to release a significant amount of tokens, which has caused unrest among investors. Some investors fear that this could cause the price to fall, as a sudden increased supply could flood the market.

Despite these challenges, Sui has taken several important steps to boost the growth of its ecosystem. For example, the platform has launched several new features designed to attract developers and create new use cases for the Sui token. This, combined with recent market movements, has ensured that Sui continues to attract significant interest from both retail investors and institutional parties.

Gaming industry

The collaboration between Sui and some major gaming companies, such as NHN, Netmarble, and NCSoft, was realized in 2023 and 2024. These companies are well-known names within the gaming industry, focusing mainly on the South Korean and global markets. Their entry into the Sui ecosystem was strengthened by Sui's unique technology, which offers fast and efficient transactions, essential for the huge amounts of user traffic in the gaming sector.

Here are some of the key games that these companies have publicized:

- NHN: Known for games such as Lineage 2M, one of the most successful MMORPGs in South Korea. NHN focuses mainly on mobile and online games.

- Netmarble: This company is best known for its big titles such as Marvel Future Fight and Lineage 2: Revolution. They have also developed mobile games that are popular worldwide.

- NCSoft: NCSoft is famous for their legendary MMORPGs such as Guild Wars and Blade & Soul. Their commitment to large-scale online worlds aligns well with Sui's ability to facilitate fast-paced transactions. MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. This is a genre of video games in which a large number of players can roam a virtual world at the same time.

These companies chose Sui because of its scalable, high-speed infrastructure, which is perfect for the high demands of modern gaming. However, it is not known if they have already released specific games that directly use the Sui network, but the partnership indicates a strategic decision to apply blockchain technology to their gaming ecosystems in the future

Price evolution of Sui

The chart below shows the evolution of Sui (blue) compared to the price of Bitcoin (orange) over the period from September 2023 to October 2024. Sui's volatility is even higher than Bitcoin's volatility. In the first months of 2024, Sui performs many times better than Bitcoin only to fall hard until the summer of 2024. In the period that follows, Sui rises from around $0.53 to $1.80.

Analysts are predominantly positive about Sui's near future, praising in particular Sui's fast transaction speed and strong (technical) trend without linking clear price targets to it. 

Advantages of investing in Sui

1. Fast transactions: Sui's parallel processing model ensures that transactions are executed quickly, even with high user activity. This makes the network suitable for many applications.

2. Low transaction costs: Compared to other platforms, Sui offers extremely low cost per transaction. This is attractive for users who want to make small payments regularly.

3. Strong technology base: Sui's development is led by an experienced team of former Meta employees, giving confidence in the platform's future.

4. USDC integration: USDC support on the network provides stability and new capabilities for users, especially in the DeFi space.

5. Growing ecosystem: Sui continues to attract new developers and partners, contributing to the growth and adoption of the platform.