Over the past year and a half, projects built on the Sui mainnet have brought a record number of users to the Sui ecosystem, which is one of the most innovative and high-performance blockchains. Users have flocked to DeFi protocols that have achieved early success on the network, while also exploring areas such as media services, NFT markets, and gaming.
As 2024 draws to a close, we have reviewed the most popular projects in Sui's first full calendar year. Some of these projects were launched with the Sui mainnet in 2023, while others quickly gained popularity this year.
For each project, their builders learned how to program in the Move language and leveraged features such as composable objects and Kiosks. They utilized Sui's unique innovations, such as zkLogin and sponsored transactions, to simplify the onboarding process for new users as much as possible. Ultimately, their efforts were recognized by the Sui community and quickly adopted by users.
Most Popular Projects by Community Engagement
To select the most popular projects on Sui, we considered both community engagement and data metrics. First, we compiled a list of the top 30 projects based on active accounts and activity volume. Then, we invited representative community ambassadors of Sui to select the projects they felt were most worth highlighting from this list. Finally, we conducted a vote on Discord to determine the ranking of these projects.
Discord: https://discord.com/servers/sui-916379725201563759
It's worth noting that account and transaction metrics tend to favor on-chain projects, while some highly popular games may use Sui for digital asset transactions, but most of their activity relies on off-chain mechanisms. Therefore, we aim to provide a credible perspective on the projects that garnered the most community attention in 2024.
Walrus
Engineers from Mysten Labs, who were also initial contributors to Sui, have proposed a new decentralized storage platform called Walrus, which they launched on the development and testnet this year. While Walrus is a completely independent platform, the builders have used Sui as a coordination layer for the assets stored on Walrus. Current activity on Sui is related to Walrus NFTs, indicating a high level of interest in this new platform.
Learn More: https://www.walrus.xyz/en
Sui Name Service
As a foundational platform to make Sui more user-friendly, the Sui Name Service converts complex blockchain addresses into human-readable names prefixed with the @ symbol. This format makes the names more familiar, easier to remember, and similar to social media usernames. Compared to domain names in the Web2 world, Sui names can serve as personal identifiers and support subnames, suitable for complex organizational structures.
Learn More: https://suins.io/
DeepBook
DeepBook, Sui's first native liquidity layer, was launched in 2023 to support the DeFi ecosystem. DeepBook enables market and limit order exchanges, providing a convenient liquidity access point for exchanges on Sui. As a decentralized public good, DeepBook is community-operated and has issued its own DEEP token.
? Learn More: https://deepbook.tech/
Cetus
The liquidity protocol Cetus, which launched early on Sui, currently offers exchange functionality with limit orders, as well as tools such as mining, liquidity pools, and a treasury, serving a broad DeFi user base. Its DeepBook interface provides a unique way for regular users to directly access Sui's native liquidity layer. Its developer tools also support builders who want to integrate DeFi functionality into their own projects.
Learn More: https://www.cetus.zone/
Suilend
The Suilend team started building on Sui in 2024 and quickly recognized the superior developer experience Sui provides. Building on their Solana experience, they launched their lending platform in March and achieved over $450 million in TVL growth in just eight months. In addition to lending, Suilend also offers exchange and cross-chain bridge services.
Learn More: https://suilend.fi/
NAVI
As one of the early DeFi protocols on Sui, NAVI combines a DEX aggregator, liquidity staking, and lending features. NAVI has $714 million in TVL and over 800,000 users, continuously innovating and deploying new features to maximize its user potential.
Learn More: https://naviprotocol.io/
Aftermath Finance
The DeFi protocol Aftermath serves as a DEX aggregator on Sui, analyzing the rates offered by other aggregators when a user enters a trade and finding the best trade path. Aftermath also provides liquidity staking through its afSUI token and offers various other mining rewards.
Learn More: https://aftermath.finance/
Scallop
The lending platform Scallop is another early Sui DeFi protocol, serving a wide range of users from beginners to professionals. The platform allows users to deposit SUI into pools to earn interest or participate in more complex lending strategies. In addition to lending, Scallop now also supports exchange functionality and provides cross-chain bridge capabilities.
Learn More: https://scallop.io/
Turbos
Turbos is a decentralized crypto market built on Sui, providing two main functions: exchange and liquidity provision for other users. As an early DeFi project on Sui, the Turbos team brings extensive experience and ongoing development, focusing on making it as efficient as possible.
Learn More: https://turbos.finance/
Tradeport
The NFT marketplace Tradeport, which launched on Sui, has accumulated rich experience from its success on chains like Near and Base. Its interface makes it easy for even new users to find and purchase NFTs. In addition to the marketplace functionality, Tradeport also includes tools that allow users to mint their own NFTs and engage in more advanced development.
Learn More: https://www.tradeport.xyz/
Most Popular Projects by Data Metrics
For users who are only interested in data metrics, we have compiled a list of the top 10 projects ranked by active accounts, excluding public projects that have not yet reached the active threshold. The active account metric is highly correlated with transaction volume, so we have chosen to use the former to represent the user count of each project.
Wave Wallet
Wave Wallet combines wallet functionality with gaming, using Telegram as a platform to attract a large number of active users on Sui. Users can play fun games and use their digital assets all in one interface. The company also leverages Telegram as a universal gaming platform.
Learn More: https://waveonsui.com/
BIRDS
BIRDS is another Telegram-based application that gamifies DeFi, providing a multi-stage, continuous interactive experience. Players first hatch an egg, helping it to upgrade until it hatches. The next stage of the game is to feed the bird, making it stronger and faster, unlocking more advanced game features.
Learn More: https://birds.dog/
FanTV
The video platform FanTV aims to disrupt services like YouTube and TikTok by more fairly compensating content creators. The app launched in India and is now gaining global attention, consistently ranking among the top 10 users.
Learn More: https://fantv.world/
Aylab
Aylab utilizes Web3 technology for advertising, having already delivered over 120 million ad impressions and over 95 million transactions. As an advertising platform, Aylab helps other projects with user acquisition and marketing, becoming an important part of the Sui business support model, similar to the transformative role of Google in traditional internet advertising.
Learn More: https://aylab.io/
Fomo
Fomo is essentially a Telegram-based Proof-of-Work (PoW) memecoin that demonstrates a high level of user interest. It appears to have been launched as a promotional campaign and may be discontinued. However, its high transaction rate showcases how Sui can easily scale while maintaining stable fees.
Learn More: https://t.me/fomosuipow
Walrus
Engineers from Mysten Labs, who were also initial contributors to Sui, have proposed a new decentralized storage platform called Walrus, which they launched on the development and testnet this year. While Walrus is a completely independent platform, the builders have used Sui as a coordination layer for the assets stored on Walrus. Current activity on Sui is related to Walrus NFTs, indicating a high level of interest in this new platform.
Learn More: https://www.walrus.xyz/en
SuiLink
As a public utility, SuiLink promotes cross-chain interoperability by connecting users' Sui accounts with Ethereum or Solana accounts. This connection is proven through a soul-bound Non-Fungible Token (NFT). SuiLink offers opportunities for cross-chain rewards, priority features, and exclusive events.
Learn more: https://www.suilink.io/connect
NAVI
As one of the early DeFi protocols on Sui, NAVI combines a DEX aggregator, liquidity staking, and lending functionalities. NAVI has a TVL of $714 million and over 800,000 users, continuously innovating and deploying new features to maximize its user potential.
Learn more: https://naviprotocol.io/
Scallop
The lending platform Scallop is another early Sui DeFi protocol, serving a wide range of users from beginners to professionals. The platform allows users to deposit SUI to earn interest or participate in more complex lending strategies. In addition to lending, Scallop now also supports swap functionality and provides cross-chain bridge capabilities.
Learn more: https://scallop.io/
Cetus
The liquidity protocol Cetus, which launched early on Sui, currently offers swap functionality with limit orders, as well as tools such as mining, liquidity pools, and a treasury, serving a broad DeFi user base. Its DeepBook interface provides a unique way for regular users to directly access Sui's native liquidity layer. Its developer tools also support builders who wish to integrate DeFi functionalities into their own projects.
Learn more: https://www.cetus.zone/
In Sui's first full year, we have seen strong user interest in foundational projects like the Sui Name Service and DeFi protocols, which are typically early adopters of the network. GameFi projects have also garnered attention, suggesting that new games launching later this year and next year could be very successful.
We are excited to see more new projects land on Sui in the coming year and leverage its scalability to attract an ever-growing user base.
Note: This content is for general educational and informational purposes only and should not be interpreted or relied upon as an endorsement or recommendation to purchase, sell, or hold any asset, investment, or financial product, and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice.
