The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To SUI

The world of cryptocurrencies has seen a surge of new projects, all striving to enhance what blockchains are currently capable of. Among them is Sui - one of the latest blockchains to emerge.

In this guide, we explore Sui's architecture, consensus mechanism, tokenomics, and more. Read on to find out why Sui may be a game-changer for on-chain use cases like games and finance.

What Is SUI and How Does It Work?

Sui is a layer-1 blockchain designed to be user-friendly for developers and users alike. Its focus is on low-latency blockchain transfers that allow for instant transaction finality and high-speed transaction throughput.

The focus on speed and finality makes it an ideal platform for on-chain use cases like games, finance, and other real-time applications.

The Sui blockchain uses a byzantine fault-tolerant proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate transactions. Transactions are organized into independent objects, allowing for parallel consensus across different, independent types of transactions. This process is called “transaction parallelization” and enables Sui to achieve horizontal scaling.

Another feature that sets Sui blockchain apart is the fact that its smart contracts are written in the Move language.

Move is a Rust-based programming language that prioritizes fast and secure transaction executions. Move was initially designed at Meta to support its Libra stablecoin project, which was later rebranded Diem and ultimately abandoned in January 2022. The Move language is now available on GitHub as a programmable platform for blockchains.

Move is a language that has been specifically designed to represent digital assets. Along with Move, the Move Prover verification tool has been co-developed, which enables developers to create formal specifications for the critical correctness properties of their application. By using the prover, developers can verify that these properties will hold true for all possible transactions and inputs.

Sui's development is backed by Mysten Labs, a technology company focused on providing enterprise-grade blockchain solutions. Sui represents Mysten Labs' vision of a permissionless, high-performance blockchain that can be used for a variety of real-world applications.

The Mysten Labs Team and Roadmap

Mysten Labs was established in 2021 and is composed of seasoned experts in the field of blockchain, cryptography, and programming languages. They are:

• Evan Cheng – co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, previously held senior management roles at Apple and was the Director of R&D for Novi Financial.

• Sam Blackshear – the CTO of Mysten Labs, is the brainchild behind the Move programming language and has a Ph.D. in programming languages from the University of Colorado Boulder.

• Adeniyi Abiodun – the CPO of Mysten Labs. He has over eight years of experience in product management and software development and previously worked on the Diem Blockchain, Move Programming Language, and Novi Advanced R&D at Meta.

• George Danezis – co-founder and Chief Scientist, who is a Professor of Security and Privacy Engineering at University College London and has expertise in anonymous communications and peer-to-peer security. Kostas Chalkias – co-founder and Chief Cryptographer, has over a decade of experience in cryptography and blockchain technology and previously worked on the Diem (Libra) blockchain, Novi wallet, and WhatsApp at Meta, as well as on post-quantum signatures and zero-knowledge proofs at R3.

All of these five individuals previously worked in the Novi division at Meta. They were part of the team responsible for the Diem blockchain and Move programming language. They left Meta to form Mysten Labs and develop Sui. The project was unveiled in March 2022.

Funding

In December 2021, Mysten Labs raised $36 million in Series A funding, with Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) leading the round. Later, in September 2022, Mysten Labs secured $300 million in Series B funding, with the now-defunct FTX Ventures committing $140 million. Other investors that participated in the round include Jump Crypto, Apollo, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sino Global, Dentsu Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, and O’Leary Ventures.

Roadmap

The Mysten Labs team has extensive experience in blockchain technology and seems well-positioned to deliver on Sui's roadmap that seeks to achieve Web3’s wider adoption. Here are the key milestones for Sui:

• December 2021: Mysten Labs raised $36 million in Series A funding led by a16z.

• March 2022: Mysten Labs unveiled the Sui project.

• July 2022: Improved the Move VSCode plugin.

• August 2022: Sui launched an incentivized testnet.

• August 2022: Released the Sui Wallet, the official cryptocurrency wallet for the Sui blockchain.

• September 2022: Mysten Labs raised $300 million in Series B funding.

• April 2023: Sui mainnet launch.

• 2023 and beyond: Continued development of Sui's infrastructure, adding more features and tools, and scaling the network.

How SUI Works: A Different Approach to Consensus and Transaction Processing

Sui distinguishes itself from other blockchains by adopting a unique mechanism that allows for instant settlements, high throughput, and minimal latency.

Unlike traditional blockchain validators that add transactions to the chain sequentially, Sui takes a different approach. It does away with the need for each transaction to be validated by all nodes in the network, making it possible to achieve near-instant finality. By focusing only on the relevant data, Sui can validate uncorrelated transaction flows independently and individually, resulting in potential transaction speeds of over 100,000 transactions per second.

Furthermore, in contrast to most blockchains that use accounts as their basic unit of data storage, Sui employs something called “objects” that represent user-level assets. These programmable objects have distinct attributes, including ownership, and can own other objects to create composable assets.

Simple or “single-writer” transactions involving owned objects can be executed almost instantly, while complex transactions involving shared objects require validation through consensus.

Finally, Sui supports zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology as part of its cryptographic model. ZKP allows for secure transactions without requiring additional information about the other party's integrity.

The SUI Token and Tokenomics

Sui has five essential components that, together, create its ecosystem. These include:

1. The SUI token – the platform's native asset.

2. Gas fees – charged on all network operations.

3. Sui's storage fund – used to shift stake rewards across time and compensate future validators for storage costs of previously stored on-chain data

4. Proof-of-stake mechanism – Sui uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to select, incentivize, and reward honest behavior by its validators.

5. On-chain voting – used for governance and protocol upgrades.

Now, let's talk more specifically about the Sui Token (SUI). As the network's native token, SUI serves four essential purposes.

1. SUI tokens can be staked to validators, which help secure the network and earn rewards.

2. SUI is used to pay gas fees for executing transactions and other operations on the Sui network.

3. SUI is designed to act as a versatile asset that can be used for various applications, including standard money functions and more complex features enabled by smart contracts, interoperability, and composability within the Sui ecosystem.

4. Additionally, holding SUI tokens gives the right to participate in the future governance of the network.

Sui Tokenomics:

The distribution of SUI is as follows. What stands out is the token's high allocation to the Community Reserve. It is yet to be seen what purpose tokens from the Community Reserve will be put to:

• 20% for Early Contributors

• 14% for Investors

• 10% for Treasury

• 6% for Community Access Program and App Testers

• 50% for Community Reserve

• Total supply: 10 billion.

Below is a visual representation of the distribution:

Source: Coingecko

On May 3, 2023, the much-anticipated Sui mainnet was launched, following the decision not to run an airdrop. Instead, an early sale on three exchanges – OKX, KuCoin, and ByBit – was offered to community members for $0.1 per token. The token sales were limited to 10,000 tokens per person.

• The live Sui price as of May 5, 2023, is $1.33, with a market cap of $711,450,135.

• SUI has a circulating supply of 528,273,718 coins and a maximum supply of 10,000,000,000 coins. This points to the fact that there is a low float on the market and that SUI’s current fully diluted market valuation (FDV) is rather high, around $13 billion.

Getting Started with Sui Wallet and Trust Wallet

What Is Trust Wallet?

Trust Wallet is secure self-custody crypto wallet that offers an all-in-one experience for securely sending, receiving, exchanging, and holding digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Trust Wallet supports multiple blockchain networks and is available on iOS and Android and as a Browser Extension for desktops.

Additionally, Trust Wallet offers a dApp browser, support for thousands of crypto assets across 70 blockchains, including Sui blockchain, and staking options for over a dozen PoS-based cryptocurrencies. And with the Trust Wallet Browser Extension for desktops, you can enjoy a seamless Web3 experience across all your devices.

Trust Wallet also offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate for both experienced crypto enthusiasts and beginners.

How to Send and Receive SUI on Trust Wallet

If you're new to using Trust Wallet and want to learn how to send and receive SUI tokens, look no further. In this step-by-step guide, we'll walk you through the process of acquiring SUI tokens from a centralized exchange and depositing them into your Trust Wallet, as well as sending SUI tokens to another wallet address.

Receiving SUI Tokens:

• Acquire SUI tokens from a cryptocurrency exchange such as Binance.

• Open your Trust Wallet app and click on 'Add Tokens' under the 'Wallets' screen section.

• Search for SUI token and add it to your SUI wallet in Trust Wallet.

• Click on 'Receive' to obtain your SUI wallet address.

• Copy the SUI wallet address and paste it into the withdrawal section of the exchange you’re using to send your tokens from.

• Wait a few minutes for the tokens to show up in your Trust Wallet.

Sending SUI Tokens:

• Obtain the address of the recipient's SUI-compatible wallet.

• Open Trust Wallet and click on 'Send' SUI tokens.

• Enter the recipient's SUI wallet address and the amount of SUI tokens you wish to send.

• Confirm the transaction and wait for it to be processed.

Popular (dApps) on SUI

Already, SUI is becoming a popular platform for dApps due to its cutting-edge infrastructure that attracts developers to build new applications. Let's take a look at some of the popular dApps on the SUI network:

OmniBTC

OmniBTC is a decentralized omnichain financial platform that enables you to swap assets and lend BTC across different blockchain networks. Its cross-chain capabilities let you swap tokens across multi-VM ecosystems, such as EVM and Move-VM. Move-VM is a virtual machine that contains the bytecode format, interpreter, and infrastructure for executing transactions in the Move language. It also includes the infrastructure to generate the genesis block. Additionally, you can perform DeFi transactions such as lending, borrowing, and depositing crypto assets across multiple networks using this platform.

Umi Protocol

Umi Protocol is a DEX aggregator that combines multiple AMMs, order books, and other liquidity protocols on the Sui network. It aims to provide DeFi investors with deep liquidity, the best swap routes, and exchange rates to trade tokens. Umi's SDK and API offer developers and professional traders higher trading efficiency as well as versatility.

MovEX

MovEX is a community-driven decentralized exchange that aims to provide a seamless trading experience and liquidity to consumers and project developers in the Sui ecosystem. It operates as a hybrid liquidity pool by combining the best of AMM and order book, making liquidity management capabilities accessible to all MovEX users.

Moreover, MovEX is designed to decentralize and automate liquidity adjustments. This relieves liquidity providers from the burden of manual liquidity management, leading to improved capital efficiency and enabling them to profit from market opportunities.

Scallop

Scallop is a financial platform that operates on Sui network, aimed at transforming the traditional lending and borrowing industry. As the first DeFi protocol to receive an official grant from the Sui Foundation, Scallop is committed to delivering institutional-grade quality, heightened composability, and robust security.

The platform's main objective is to create a dynamic money market where you can enjoy high-interest lending, low-fee borrowing, and premium bonds. With Scallop, you have access to a comprehensive suite of financial products and services that are designed to meet their diverse needs.

Conclusion

In summary, Sui is a promising layer-1 blockchain that offers fast, secure, and user-friendly blockchain transfers for real-time applications. Its unique consensus and transaction processing mechanism, object-centric data storage model, and support for ZKP technology make it unique in the blockchain space.

With its innovative features and capabilities, the Sui network could represent a significant step forward in the evolution of blockchain technology, offering creators and developers a powerful platform to build exceptional, user-friendly experiences.

Trust Wallet will continue to add more functionality for Sui dApps, NFTs, and in-app purchases. Therefore, look out for more updates from Trust Wallet as Sui continues to innovate around features, tools, and the scaling of its network. Download Trust Wallet here.

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Note: Any cited numbers, figures, or illustrations are reported at the time of writing, and are subject to change.