The Sui blockchain, designed by former Meta employees, has made an impressive breakthrough this month, surpassing Aptos, Cardano, and Near in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL) on DeFi protocols. With nearly $600 million now locked in various DeFi protocols, Sui has almost tripled its TVL since the beginning of the year, when it stood at $211 million, according to data from DefiLlama.
A Massive Influx from Ethereum
Wormholescan.io data, which tracks fund flows via the inter-chain bridge Wormhole, reveals that $310 million has been transferred to Sui from Ethereum in the past 30 days. This surge puts Sui at the top of layer 1 blockchains in terms of attracting capital in the DeFi ecosystem.
Remarkable Performance Despite a Turbulent Start
Despite a rocky start after its launch on the Binance platform in May, where the native token SUI plunged 68% in the first five months, Sui quickly regained momentum. A wave of registration activities, allowing arbitrary data to be recorded on the blockchain without using smart contracts, contributed to this recovery. On December 22, Sui generated 13.8 million blocks, reaching a peak of 6,000 transactions per second, a performance that saw gas prices decrease even during this high-traffic phase.
Enhanced Trust and Growth of DeFi Protocols
This outstanding performance has increased the confidence of developers and investors, leading to an increase in the price of the SUI token and on-chain TVL in the following weeks. The two largest protocols on Sui, Scallop Lend and Navi Protocol, two lending platforms, have seen their TVL quadruple since the beginning of the year, with the anticipation of airdrops for users. Currently, 106 validators operate 413 nodes to secure the Sui blockchain.
