Sui Network has made quite a splash in the blockchain ecosystem so far. Explore all of the factors behind its rapid growth in market cap, TVL, and developer activity. Sui has burst onto the scene with a $9.4 billion market capitalization. Its Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) currently sits at a whopping $27.7 billion. Since early 2025, the network’s stablecoin market cap has exploded, more than doubling to beyond $1.1 billion. At the same time, its DeFi ecosystem has exploded, from roughly $25 million at its DeFi launch in May 2023 to almost $1.7 billion by May 2025. Sui is currently on fire. This growth, together with surging institutional interest and strategic partnerships, has positioned Sui as a serious contender in the highly competitive blockchain landscape.
DeFi Ecosystem Expansion
Secondly, Sui’s DeFi ecosystem has witnessed extreme growth, as seen by its TVL increase. Total Value Locked (TVL) exploded from $25 million at its launch in May 2023. By May 2025, it had soared to about $1.7 billion. This positions Sui as the third-largest non-EVM chain by TVL and the eighth-largest blockchain overall, surpassing established competitors like Aptos, Cardano, and Polygon.
And the expansion is surely assisted by those big, eye-popping figures. Cumulative DEX volume has topped $110 billion, with daily averages around $250 million and peaks over $800 million. It was significant enough that the volume of stablecoins exploded from $400 million in January to about $1.2 billion by May 2025. Monthly transfers never fell below $70 billion, a remarkable testimony to the network’s bustling economic throughput.
The growth in these key metrics underscores Sui's increasing prominence and attractiveness as a platform for decentralized finance applications, challenging the dominance of more established blockchains.
Developer and Community Growth
Sui has pulled in a developer base that has continued to grow, for the most part, on the strength of its Move programming language. This statically-typed language enhances security and efficiency in developing smart contracts. For developers who can’t wait to create the next wave of powerful, decentralized applications – it’s an immensely attractive opportunity.
Gaining momentum and excitement around its project, to further spur growth and innovation within its ecosystem, Sui has launched various funding and support programs. We administer a simple, fixed $25,000 USD grant program. This Academic Research Award supports groundbreaking, original research to further the development of technology based on Sui and Web3. On top of that, Sui has introduced ecosystem incubators to deliver technical, operational, and business guidance alongside accelerated grant funding.
Sui additionally offers RFPs funding for proposals that meet particular needs recognized in the Sui ecosystem. These initiatives complement each other to better enable and empower the developer. More recently, they’ve been funding projects that accelerate adoption and expansion of the Sui network. Sui is certainly making moves to host events, particularly in developing markets such as Vietnam. These localized efforts go a long way towards drawing in local users and developers, and building up its community base.
Market Performance and Institutional Interest
Sui’s native token SUI showed surprising market resilience, up almost $2.7 in price. In early March 2025, SUI was trading around $1.58, marking an 11% monthly increase, underscoring growing investor confidence in the network's potential.
Institutional interest in Sui is increasing at an incredible pace. Canary Capital is even trying to get SEC approval for a $SUI ETF, highlighting the extent of this trend. This would mark a significant step towards acknowledging Sui’s value as a strong investment asset, particularly as institutional investors are increasingly beginning to recognize its potential.
Sui has built strategic partnerships across an institutional ecosystem, including developers, enterprises and governments. Most recently, it joined forces with World Liberty Fi, a DeFi protocol based on Donald J. Trump’s likeness. These collaborations increase Sui’s exposure, but even more importantly, they help grow and diversify its ecosystem.
