On May 3, 2023, Sui mainnet was officially launched, which has been 2 years now. Many may remember: When Sui was first launched, the situation was not as optimistic as it is now - the investor FTX collapsed, and the foundation was forced to "buy back tokens" themselves; issued during a bear market, with the token price dropping from $1.7 to $0.4; without a conventional token Airdrop, but instead a lottery for token purchase quota, which flooded the community with "No airdrop, No community." Some even called it a "scam".

In just two years, everything has changed. In this cycle where Bitcoin bottomed at $16,000 and ultimately broke through $100,000, Sui is undoubtedly the new public chain protagonist. Looking across the entire public chain landscape, it is only slightly less prominent than Solana, which has been "reborn" in this round. In fact, the FDV of Sui's governance token SUI is already the sixth-largest crypto asset in the industry, only behind BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and BNB among non-stablecoins.

How did Sui achieve such impressive results? What did it do right, and where did its competitors fall short? Taking the opportunity of Sui's second anniversary, I will attempt to unveil the growth code behind Sui's various data from the perspective of a deep ecosystem participant, using personal experience and subjective feelings as clues.

DeFi Ecosystem

Sui now ranks 9th among all public chains with a DeFi TVL of $1.78 billion, surpassing veteran public chains like Avalanche and the Move language public chain Aptos, which launched its mainnet a year earlier. However, Sui's DeFi ecosystem was not built overnight.

Like most "VC tokens", Sui's mainnet activity data was not impressive after its token launch, with DeFi lacking users and unable to operate. How did Sui turn this situation around?

On October 14, 2024, DEEP officially launched TGE, with 10% of the total token supply used for user Airdrop, with a maximum value of $300 million, and a total of 101,968 Sui addresses eligible to claim.

Sui Name Service

Sui Name Service is a domain protocol on Sui, which not only maps addresses on the Sui chain in .sui format but is also deeply integrated with other Mysten Labs projects like Walrus. If you want to deploy a website on Walrus with a custom domain, you need to purchase SuiNS. For example, the URL for the official Walrus Stake website is stake-wal.wal.app, which is relatively cumbersome, rather than stake.wal.app or staking.wal.app, because stake.sui and staking.sui domain names were bought by non-official parties.

On November 14, 2024, NS opened Airdrop claiming, with 10% of the token supply allocated to community Airdrop, with a peak value of $30 million.

Walrus

Walrus is a decentralized storage and data availability protocol based on Sui, which ideally would create deflationary pressure on SUI tokens. Walrus raised $140 million in funding independently.

On March 27, 2025, WAL token TGE, with 4% Airdropped to active users and testnet participants in the Sui and Walrus ecosystem, valued at approximately $120 million, with an additional 6% reserved for future Airdrops after mainnet launch. Over 120,000 Sui addresses received WAL Airdrop.

In comparison, the TGE liquidity Staking project Amnis on Aptos only Airdropped to the top 10,000 on the leaderboard, with AMI token's circulating market cap around $5 million. In contrast, the wealth effect on Sui is truly "mind-blowing".

Ecosystem Airdrop

From the criticism of "No Airdrop, No Community" to the paradigm shift of "No Community, No Airdrop", although Sui did not conduct a user Airdrop during its mainnet launch, it has taken Airdrop marketing and community building to the extreme.

Referencing screenshots from the articles "The Conference Approaches, Rumors Spread, Is Sui Ecosystem Entering a New Airdrop Season?" and "Gold Panning Manual | How to Layout the 300 Million WAL Phase 2 Airdrop?", Sui's co-founders subtly hinted at "Airdrop" opportunities to guide users to interact with the ecosystem and join communities, and users who followed through indeed received Airdrop rewards. This is the "Airdrop marketing" that users love, and Sui's reputation for wealth effect was thus established.

Excellent Fundraising + Market Value Management

Interestingly, apart from the SUI native token, none of the ecosystem tokens mentioned above have been listed on Binance (without releasing chips), and the initial circulating supply is relatively low. In Sui's DeFi protocols, extremely high deposit rates are provided for these tokens, further locking tokens and reducing circulation.

The low token circulation makes it easier for Mysten Labs to manage market value and "create wealth effect".

Learning from Solana

As the two most brilliant public chains in this cycle, Solana and Sui indeed share many similarities. From a chronological perspective, Sui seems to be learning from Solana. What strategy makes a champion in this cycle?

Token Price is the Best Marketing

Observing the rise of Solana and Sui, a common point is that token price rises before fundamentals, with various data catching up later.

Token price itself is the best marketing, with a strong price attracting attention, mindshare, and funds. Fundamental data is thus completed, providing further reasons for growth. For example, TVL growth is often driven by the rise of the public chain's native token.

While you focus on pumping the price, scholars will naturally provide justification.

Hardware, Airdrop, If You Have It, I Must Have It Too

Solana launched Web3 phones Saga and Seeker, aiming to bridge Web2 and Web3 and introduce Web2 traffic to crypto. However, most buyers of these Web3 phones were Web3 native users, motivated by potential ecosystem project token Airdrops.

Sui also learned from Solana and focused on Web3 hardware. On September 2, 2024, Mysten Labs partnered with game handheld OS developer Playtron to launch SuiPlay0X1 Web3 game handheld pre-sale (details: priced at 599u, is SuiPlay game handheld worth buying?), with the 10,000 unit pre-sale already sold out and set to be shipped this summer.

We both have hardware, and if you have Airdrops, I can't be left behind! Since its release, SuiPlay has accumulated over 10 ecosystem project Airdrops or Airdrop promises.

Community Building

Whether a community is united affects the ecosystem's atmosphere and external perception. Sui's current community is undoubtedly one of the most sticky in Web3.

Exclusive Protocols for Developers

According to related information, the Sui Foundation signs exclusive agreements with project parties, requiring them to build only on the Sui chain as a prerequisite for receiving foundation funding (for user incentives, etc.). This seemingly "closed" restriction effectively prevents developers from being fickle. Developers on the Sui chain are relatively focused, unlike some developers on EVM chains who frequently jump between platforms.

Ecosystem Solidarity and Mutual Assistance

Sui ecosystem projects are relatively united, often with "mutual Airdrops". Although the author ranked in the top 50 of the Navi points leaderboard and did not receive a single NAVX token Airdrop, many ecosystem projects Airdropped to Navi users.

Summary

Doing well in DeFi ecosystem, creating wealth effect, and building community culture are not easy. Sui's achievements at just 2 years old are no coincidence. Although such a project must have a Cabal operating behind the scenes to boost it, the Sui team's excellence is undeniable.

In this cycle, Sui is still Solana's follower, but if its development momentum continues, it may soon become a challenger.

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