Sui (SUI) was CoinMarketCap’s third-most trending cryptocurrency on 7 May 2023. So what is Sui and does it live up to the hype?
Sui is a Layer One blockchain and a smart contract platform. A Layer One blockchain is a standalone blockchain that serves as a building block for an ecosystem. Hence, they intend Sui to compete with Layer 1 blockchains such as Ethereum (ETH).
The word sui constitutes a unique class alone, Merriam Webster reports. An organization they call the Sui Foundation operates Sui. They claim the Sui Foundation operates globally and relies on a decentralized global workforce.
How Does Sui Differ from Other Blockchains?
Sui differs from most blockchains because its basic unit is Sui Objects. Hence, they center Sui’s storage system around objects. They claim Sui Objects can be either mutable (changeable) or immutable (unchangeable).
Furthermore, Sui Objects can be owned or shared. Only the owner can change owned objects while the user can modify a shared object. They claim Sui’s object-centric data model creates digital assets and attributes live-on chain and operate outside of smart contracts.
Plus, they claim Sui’s parallel processing supports simple transactions that can finalize analyze asset transfers in real-time. Plus, they claim you can scale Sui horizontally. They also claim horizontal scaling keeps fees lows.
Sui Smart Contract Platform
Smart contracts are digital robots that conduct transactions in a blockchain. They write Sui’s smart contracts in the Sui Move a powerful-asset-centric version of the Move programming language.
Plus, they claim Sui Move allows users to create custom rules for asset creation, asset transfers, and operations that modify or mutate assets. Interestingly, they claim Sui forgoes consensus which creates a simpler and easier to use blockchain.
Notably, a traditional Layer One blockchain has its own virtual machine. To explain, a virtual machine is a digital computer that runs a blockchain. Smart contracts and other apps need to communicate with a virtual machine to operate.
A Blockchain Network of Virtual Machines
Sui does not need consensus because permissionless independent validators maintain it. Each validator runs its own version of Sui’s software on a separate virtual machine. Hence, you can think of Sui as a blockchain network of virtual machines.
Unlike other validators, Sui’s validators do not continuously participate in the consensus protocol. Instead, validators only go into action when they receive a transaction or certificate.
This makes Sui faster because it does not have to wait for a validator to perform many tasks. Validators participate in the network by answering clients requests.
Sui’s Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) mechanism determines which validators operate the network and how much voting power they have. A DPoS calculates the total stake and the amount deposited in the Sui Storage Fund.
Sui pays validators with a share of transaction fees and staking rewards. Sui punishes unacceptable behavior by slashing the stake and staking rewards the validator receives.
The Sui Ecosystem
The Sui Foundation acts as an incubator that supports decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, games, and other apps.
The Foundation has two programs to support these apps. The Developer Grant Program provides $10,000 to $100,000 payments to support developers building native apps for the Sui blockchain. Anybody can apply for a grant and receive the payments.
The Ambassador Program supports individuals who serve as representatives and spokespeople for Sui. They have four types of Ambassadors: Educators, Creators, Energizers, and Organizers.
Educators share knowledge and expertise and promote Sui. Creators create content that promotes Sui. Energizers are recruiters who try to bring new people into the Sui community. Organizers are the people who organize and lead the Sui Community.
Hence, Sui operates like a multi-level marketing scheme, which creates a community to promote and support Sui.
Sui Projects
However, Sui supports many projects that could generate income on its blockchain.
For example, the Mu Protocol builds a collateral-debt-position (CDP) US dollar stablecoin they call mUSD. A collateralized debt position (CDP) locks collateral in smart contracts to create a decentralized stablecoin. Similarly, Surf is a next-generation wallet. The SwifNFTMarket is a multifunctional nonfungible token (NFT) trading market on the Sui blockchain.
The Universal Basic Asset is a social finance (SocialFi) network and Decentralized Identity (DID) system. Universal Basic Asset can support basic income and other government benefit schemes. I think Universal Basic Asset can support pension and other schemes.
Chainbase supports Web3 data infrastructure and Big Data. Wandering Warrior is an endless mode combat game. Sui Grinders create tools and income streams for NFT and crypto projects. Sui Fusion is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and centralized (CEX). In contrast, object ObjectSwap is a Dex built on Sui.
GetBlock is a large blockchain infrastructure provider. Bonanza Blast is a gaming platform and ecosystem built in Sui. FootBullz is a predict-to-earn (sports betting) platform built around the BULLZ token. Cryptopia World is a gaming, and game finance (GameFi), platform. Everstake is a validator.
Hence, Sui’s mainnet, which is now online, supports many projects that could generate income.
The SUI Token
Sui’s native asset is the SUI Token (SUI). Owners can use SUI to participate in Sui’s delegated proof-of-stake mechanism (DPoS). The DPoS calculates the amount of stakes.
They use Sui (SUI) to denominate gas fees for Sui platform transactions and operations. To elaborate, blockchain users pay gas fees to access the virtual machines that run a blockchain network. Sui users need gas fees to access all the virtual machines, Sui validators operate.
Sui’s Storage Fund finances Sui’s on-chain data storage with Sui. This enables validators to store data on the Sui blockchain. The DPoS calculates the amount of Sui they deposit in the storage fund.
What Value does the Sui (SUI) Token Offer?
Mr. Market assigns some value to Sui (SUI). For instance, Sui was CoinMarketCap’s 68th ranked cryptocurrency with a $1.18 Coin Price on 9 May 2023.
In contrast, CoinMarketCap gave Sui (SUI) a $625.561 million Market Cap, a $11.827 billion Fully Diluted Market Cap, and a $460.684 million 24-Hour Market Volume on 9 May 2023. There was also a Centralized Exchange (CEX) Volume of $456.062 million, and a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) Volume of $4.622 million on 8 May 2023.
They base those numbers on a Circulating Supply of 528.274 million SUI and a Total Supply of 10 billion Sui. I think Sui is an interesting cryptocurrency that could offer some value. Sui could offer value. It could achieve widespread use through gaming and DeFi apps.
 make money from smart contracts?){kind=link}