It is a landmark moment in our journey as the Sui ecosystem’s Total Value Locked (TVL) surpasses Aptos, Cardano, and Osmosis, securing its position as top 3 in the DeFi space with the highest capital locked among Non-EVM chains. We are proud to have been early investors in the biggest TVL projects in Sui: Scallop, NAVI Protocol and Cetus. Seeing Sui’s potential as early as 2022, we have been actively researching and investing in the best projects within the ecosystem.

This achievement is more than just a milestone; it’s a testament to ViaBTC Capital’s strategic insight, our strong conviction in Sui, and the collective effort of our team.

If you haven’t jumped on the Sui train yet, here’s why it’s time to grab your ticket:

SUI, the native token of Sui Network, is stirring up the DeFi scene with a remarkable 220% increase in the last three months. This bullish trend of SUI has injected momentum into the ecosystem. Sui now boasts a TVL of over $579 million, more than double its value at the end of 2023, which stood at $212 million. According to wormholescan.io, an explorer that tracks money flow across chain bridge Wormhole, Sui has seen $313 million bridged from 10 different chains including Ethereum, Solana and Aptos in the past 30 days. This places Sui as the second most favored destination for bridging assets, just behind Ethereum.

Riding the wave of inscription heat, Sui has also found its momentum in the sector. In Dec, Sui experienced two days of exceptionally high transactions volume, generating 13.8 million blocks and reachingn6000 transactions per second (TPS) at its peak. Unlike other L1s and L2s , gas price on Sui actually fell during this high traffic phase. This showed the stability and efficiency of Sui’s gas pricing mechanism.

Sui is laying out some big plans to expand its ecosystem. For developers ready to dive in and contribute to the Sui ecosystem, there is a Developer Grant on the table. As of now, 86 projects have been awarded grants with a total of $4.72 million in funding. Additionally, Sui is preparing for its first-ever global conference, Sui Basecamp, happening mid-April in Paris.

This move has boosted confidence of developers and investors, pushing both the SUI price and the ecosystem’s TVL up, along with major moves to build the community. The three largest protocols on Sui include Scallop and Navi Protocol, both lending/borrowing platforms that have quadrupled their TVL since the beginning of the year, and Cetus, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Sui.

Scallop

Scallop is a lending/borrowing market on Sui Network and is the first DeFi protocol to receive an official grant from Sui Foundation.

Built with a focus on institutional-grade quality, enhanced composability, and robust security, Scallop offers a dynamic money market featuring high-interest lending, low-fee borrowing, asset management, and automated market-making (AMM) tools, all within a single platform. Scallop also provides a software development kit (SDK) for professional traders to execute complex trades effortlessly, including zero-interest loans, featuring an average APR of 20% for main asset pools.

Since its mainnet launch in July 2023, Scallop has become popular for its user-friendly interface, innovative features, and high protocol security. It has reached an all-time high TVL of $156 million, with over $15 billion in total lending and borrowing volume and over $2 billion in flash loans, placing it at the top in the Sui DeFi space.

Scallop Protocol has established a broad network of partnerships with projects like Aftermath Finance, Typus Finance, OKX Wallet and others. Its decision to go open-source has further encouraged innovation, allowing other Sui projects to build upon it.

Why We Invest in Scallop?

The Scallop team has demonstrated their talent by bagging awards in multiple hackathons, including first place at the Webx Move Hackathon Circle Track and SUI Builder house. Scallop distinguishes itself in DeFi with its unique approach to 1) interest rates, 2) composability, and 3) security. It introduces a Trilinear Interest Rate Model for more stable rates, offers strong composability with its sCoins, and employs a decentralized oracle mechanism to enhance security and prevent price manipulation.

NAVI Protocol

NAVI started as the first lending/borrowing platform on Sui, aiming to be the primary liquidity hub with features such as “collateral auto rebalance and one-click leveraged vaults.” NAVI currently leads in borrowing TVL on Sui, accounting for over 60% of the total borrowed amount with $51 million. This dominance highlights NAVI’s vital role in enhancing asset composability on Sui. NAVI’s approach combines traditional lending and collateral asset models to optimize capital efficiency.

The recent acquisition of Volo, a liquid staking service, by NAVI marked a significant step, making it the first protocol in the Sui ecosystem to offer an integrated suite of borrowing, lending, and liquid staking services. The team is also refining its multi-asset collateral strategy to balance lending volatile assets with meeting liquidity demands.

Why We Invest NAVI?

The Founders of NAVI are expereicned DeFi builders from notable projects like Helio.Money, Connext Network, and KaratDAO. NAVI stands out with special DeFi features: 1) It offers low-interest asset loans coupled with high staking returns, allowing users to get discounts on borrowing costs by staking native assets. 2) Adopting Curve’s Ve model, veNAVI tokens efficiently facilitate user voting and LP pool incentives. 3) NAVI opts for a single oracle design for efficiency, although this design bears similar risks to those in EVM environments in terms of price manipulation resistance.

Cetus Protocol

Cetus Protocol, is a DEX and automated market maker protocol built on Aptos and Sui.

It introduces a concentrated liquidity model to boost capital efficiency for liquidity providers and minimize slippage for traders. Cetus’s mission is to create a versatile liquidity platform to enable efficient trading of any assets. Its open-access smart contracts and SDKs make it easy for developers to launch and integrate new products.

Cetus’s TVL ranks in the top 3 on Sui, doubling to $95 million from December to date. Its trading volume has surged from $52 million to $981 million in February. Cetus is also investors of both Scallop and NAVI, driving market and product innovations within the Sui ecosystem through LP integration, liquidity pooling, AMM integration, and yield farming.

Why We Invest in Cetus?

1) Cetus fills a gap on Aptos and Sui for concentrated liquidity (CLMM) Dexes. 2) It introduces technical innovations like CLMM, allowing liquidity providers to target funds within specific price ranges for enhanced capital efficiency. 3) Its dual token model, featuring $CETUS and $xCETUS, ensures active user incentives and ecosystem stability.

Looking Forward

Our outlook on the Sui ecosystem remains bullish, with Scallop, NAVI, and Cetus leading our investment strategy. The recent surge in SUI price is attributed to substantial ecosystem subsidies, the upcoming Sui Basecamp, and the TVL growth surpassing that of Aptos, yet with a lower market cap. This dynamic sets the stage for significant speculative potential, with high subsidies attracting capital and creating a positive feedback loop that elevates Sui’s price. We anticipate Sui continuing its upward trend, driven by increasing TVL and the appeal of its high-yield opportunities.