It’s time to Think-Sui : A deep look into the Sui Blockchain

Introduction

When you hear the word “Sui”, what do you think? Certainly, you’ve heard echoes of Suuuiiii ringing across stadiums — the instantly signature celebration of soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

But that’s not what we’re discussing here.

In the realm of blockchain innovation, Sui takes on an entirely new meaning — one that could redefine the future of decentralized applications and digital asset management. Sui is a parallelized virtual machine layer 1 (L1) that introduces a paradigm shift in how we interact with blockchain technology.

When it comes to performance metrics, Sui knows speed. It boasts a dashing 125,000 TPS, more than 3x of the nearest competitor. At the time of writing, the average gas fee is 0.0044$ whereas Ethereum costs $35, that’s a whopping ~8000x difference in gas fees.

With an architecture designed for unparalleled scalability, a revolutionary programming language tailored for digital asset management and security above all, and a flourishing ecosystem with groundbreaking innovations, Sui is more than just another alternative L1. It’s a bold contender rivaling both Ethereum and Solana’s dominance to reshape the boundaries of DeFi and beyond.

Let’s journey towards the cutting-edge world of Sui, where every aspect is meticulously engineered to elevate the blockchain to unprecedented heights. The future of decentralization has a new name, and it’s time to witness the Sui-it (read: sweet) revolution in action!

The Architecture

The main aspect that makes a blockchain “special” isn’t the fact that the native token has a high price action, or that it’s shilled endlessly. But it is the fundamentals that truly make it unprecedented.

At the heart of Sui’s revolutionary potential lies its innovative architecture, a masterpiece of design that sets a new level for a typical blockchain network. This architectural prowess illustrates itself through several key components:

1. Narwhal mempool:

• DAG-Based Transaction Organization: Uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure instead of a linear blockchain, enabling parallel transaction processing thereby reducing bottlenecks.
• High-Throughput Data Availability (DA) Engine: Ensures a swift and reliable propagation of data across the network for efficient validation as the system scales.
• Scaled Architecture: Distributes disk I/O and networking operation workloads across multiple workers to improve performance and prevent points of failures.
• Optimized for High Performance: The DAG-based mempool and scaled architecture allows Sui to handle high volumes of transactions efficiently.
• Innovative Design: An approach that represents a departure from traditional first-in-first-serve queues, reducing bottlenecks and prioritization based on fees.

Directed Acyclic Graph with five rounds of construction and validators A — D (source: Mysten Labs)

2. Bullshark consensus engine:

• Tight Integration: Bullshark may be uniquely designed to work hand-in-hand with the Narwhal mempool. This level of integration between Narwhal + Bullshark might be a novel approach that the blockchain industry has not seen.
• Advanced Transaction Sequencing: Leveraging on Narwhal’s nature, the Bullshark consensus engine might implement sophisticated sequencing algorithms for a more efficient block production.
• Optimized Validator Selection: Bullshark might have an added feature of enhanced validator selection processes that are dynamically adjusted.
• State Sharding Capability: Although not explicitly stated, Bullshark may be designed to be compatible with or eventually adopt state sharding — allowing the network to process numerous transactions in parallel without compromising the network state.
• Parallel Processing: The parallelized Virtual Machine (VM) allows processing capabilities that have significant implications for UX and maximize dApps usage on Sui.

TL;DR Narwhal mempool + Bullshark consensus engine = Ensures the data available to be submitted for consensus + Agreeing on the specific ordering of the data.

While the Narwhal and Bullshark provide Sui with a formidable architectural foundation for high-throughput and scalable transaction processing, the blockchain’s performance edge is further amplified by its innovative approach to transaction partitioning.

Sui’s Transaction Partitioning (source: SUPRA)

Instead of classifying all transactions to the same consensus protocol, Sui categorizes them into “simple” and “complex” categories based on their complexity.

a. Simple Transactions

i. Action: Bypass Sui’s main consensus protocol, allowing them to be added to the chain with minimal bandwidth usage.

ii. Example: Minting a new NFT collection or transferring personally owned Sui token to another wallet you control (single-ownership operations)

b. Complex Transactions

i. Action: These intricate smart contract interactions require Sui’s custom Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism to ensure proper validation and maintain network integrity.

ii. Example: Swapping tokens on a DEX or lending/borrowing assets (multiple-ownership operations)

This approach optimizes resource utilization by intelligently allocating computational power and network resources to operations that do require it, while streamlining the processing for simpler transactions. By doing so, Sui achieves a beautiful balance between performance and security, paving the way for the third key component of its architecture.

3. Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS):

• Reward Distribution: Sui’s DPoS system features an epoch-based reward distribution, where each epoch is at a 24-hour time interval. It may be similar to Cardano ($ADA), but Sui has a unique transaction fee allocation model tied to its advanced transaction partitioning, potentially leading to higher efficiency and staking rewards.
• Integrated Economic Model: Sui’s staking service extends beyond block validation by including compensation for network services (i.e. data storage).
• Dynamic Validator Selection: Sui employs a dynamic validator selection process at the beginning of each epoch, allowing the network to adjust the committee (set of validators) based on real-time conditions.

Sui’s architecture doesn’t end with its adept handling of transactions. Its efficiency extends into the economic domain, specifically its gas fees. Even with a low cost, Sui’s gas fees are composed of two components: computational and storage costs. Computational fees reflect the validators’ work in processing transactions. Whereas, storage fees establish the blockchain’s sustainable data storage model. They provide a forward-thinking solution to the common problem of data persistence.

As we have navigated through the intricate architecture of Sui and its economic structure, the stage is now set for another foundation of Sui’s unique blockchain environment: the Move programming language. This object-centric language forms a critical piece that unlocks the full potential of Sui’s object-centric capabilities. Move redefines the narrative for smart contract development with safety and precision. Let’s explore how Sui, empowered by Move’s object models, is set to redefine the development landscape.

Move Language

Developed by Meta for the Libra project, Move was created with the core vision of security and efficiency in mind. At an architectural level Move leverages special features within the language semantics which give it an edge over the competition. Move is a statically and strongly typed language which means variables are explicitly called out by type during compilation time thereby reducing errors during runtime due to class which might not be so easy to pick out with dynamic languages. This further builds to early error detection, easily readable code, and a strict type system that mitigates confusion and increases transparency with smart contract development. Additionally, Move leverages tools such as inlining functions and first-class resources which optimize the smart contract-building process. By inlining functions, the need for function calls is eliminated and the call is replaced by the function body within the program meaning the compiler is no longer forced to jump around within the program. This increases speed and gives the compiler better context which can reduce gas fees as fees are directly tied to the critical computational steps which must take place to execute a smart contract.

While Move alone is a great language, Sui took these principles one step further by including their own custom twists through Sui-Move. These features include:

1. Object-centric global storage: Sui’s bytecode verifier checks that new objects are always given fresh Unique IDs ensuring that the addresses of on-chain assets are never reused.

Example of Sui object (source: Sui Docs)

2. Module initializers: Module initializers enforce developer control by ensuring it is difficult to tamper with published modules even when they are being upgraded

Example of Sui module initializers (source: Sui Docs)

3. Entry functions: These functions protect blocks from bad actors utilizing entry points from other modules

Example of Sui module initializers (source: Sui Docs)

The security-oriented design of Move, embraced by both Aptos and Sui, significantly mitigates the risk of exploits and unauthorized access, providing a robust foundation for smart contract development. This approach, encompassing features beyond authenticated storage and parallelization, reduces the likelihood of incidents like the Curve Finance (re-entrance attack) hack by ensuring comprehensive protection and integrity in data handling. From this powerful foundation, Sui has been taking off as a mainstay for dApp development!

Discovering Sui: The Next ‘Sui-test’ Revolution in Blockchain

Now, everything boils down to this question — Why Sui? Beyond its impressive transaction speeds, security safety, and cost efficiency, the real magic of Sui lies within its ecosystem. Characterized by Sui Primitives like zkLogin and zkSend, these innovations are not mere enhancements but are actively shaping the narrative for blockchain interactions, providing privacy and excellent UX.

1. zkLogin: Imagine accessing dApps on Sui without ever exposing your identity or credentials, all while maintaining absolute security and familiar web credentials (i.e. Google and Facebook). Offering seamless and secure UX through OAuth credentials.
2. zkSend: Sending transactions anonymously whilst ensuring complete transparency and security sounds paradoxical right? zkSend makes this possible. zkSend lets users create a link containing a specific demanded amount of SUI. Just use the link, be it from QR code or DMs, and voila transaction done!
3. Kiosk: The Amazon of the Sui ecosystem, but not only just a marketplace. Each vendor has their own ‘Kiosk’ (a shared object on the blockchain). They’re dynamic, have full ownership control, allow customizable policies, and create unified in a single marketplace.
4. Deepbook: Sui’s pioneering native Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) liquidity layer that provides a transparent trading environment, community-driven evolution, robust trading functionality, liquidity and order matching, metrics, and liquidity support.
5. Sponsored Transactions: Picture a scenario where diving into the web3 world of Sui without any upfront costs for users (i.e. Gas Fees). It’s like having a benefactor cover your expenses, allowing users to initiate transactions while the sponsor (dApp) pays the gas fees.
6. Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTB): A developer primitive allowing the user to perform up to 1,024 unique operations in just a single execution. With atomic execution, the entire set of operations can either succeed or fail together — ensuring consistency. Imagine minting a batch of new collections of NFTs all in one go.

While Sui’s ecosystem primitives revolutionize UX and streamline blockchain interactions, they merely scratch the surface of Sui’s capabilities. Sui is paving the way for a new era of decentralized finance, leveraging its architectural heights, high throughput, low latency, and the most important of all — parallelized processing. From lightning fast decentralized exchanges to lending protocols capable of handling fast transactions without missing a beat, Sui’s ecosystem is rapidly evolving into a fertile ground for the next generation of DeFi applications.

Sui’s Total Value Locked (source: DeFi Llama)

Sui’s DeFi ecosystem is rapidly growing, covering a wide array of sectors: lending, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), liquid staking, derivatives, Collateralized Debt Position (CDP), yield farming, options vaults, RWA integration, yield aggregators, synthetics, algo-stables, and much more! With a total value locked (TVL) of $733.5 million, Sui is quickly carving out its place in the DeFi space and showing significant potential for growth.

This potential positions Sui as a strong competitor against major players, such as Ethereum with its $52.453 billion TVl and Solana at $4.707 billion. The combination of Sui’s innovative architecture, low gas fees, and comprehensive DeFi offerings, enhanced by the Move language and parallelized virtual machine truly differentiates it. Move’s object-centric approach equips Sui with a powerful framework for developing dApps. Simultaneously, the parallelized virtual machine architecture allows for concurrent transaction processing — increasing throughput and efficiency. These technologies not only highlight Sui’s potential to scale within the L1 sector but also position it as a formidable contender to renowned platforms like Ethereum and Solana.

The potential of Sui is illustrated not only just by its technical capabilities but also by the tangible metrics that matter to both the developer community and mainstream users. Sui’s Total Value Locked might be way lower compared with Ethereum and Solana. Nevertheless, with a TVL of $712.7 million, Sui showcases an impressive engagement in its ecosystem, especially when tying it up with the market cap, revealing a TVL to Market Cap ratio that surpasses those of Ethereum and Solana. This indicates that most users lock their assets inside Sui, demonstrating not only a deep trust in Sui’s platform but also a high utilization rate of its DeFi capabilities.

Building upon Sui’s impressive ecosystem management is the groundbreaking object-centric approach, distinguishing it from account-based blockchains like Solana and Ethereum. In Sui, the digital assets and NFTs are represented as objects, which can be nested and interacted with directly. This model simplifies the creation of digital assets, allowing devs to focus more on innovation rather than tedious security checks. Additionally, Move and Sui Move are completely different things. The latter is tailored specifically for its ecosystem, offering a level of integration and safety unmatched by other platforms. For now, let’s examine the core infrastructure that highlights its superior performance and flexibility compared with those of Ethereum and Solana.

Now that we’re done with the non-technical comparison between Sui and Ethereum and Solana, the technical comparison sheds light to Sui’s distinct approach — particularly on its VM and language choice, transaction handling, and consensus mechanism.

While Ethereum has its EVM, focusing on single function calls, and Solana has Sealevel, opening up the possibility for multiple instructions, Sui leverages Move with a specific primitive enhancement — the Programmable Transaction Blocks. Unlike the account-based models of Ethereum and Solana, Sui adopts an object-centric approach at its core foundational model. Moreover, Sui’s integration of Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) synergized with a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) contrasts with Ethereum’s PoS and Solana’s PoH, indicating a unique balance of speed, reliability, and scalability.

What’s Next?

That said, in the realm of blockchain, we can’t necessarily compare Sui, Ethereum, and Solana just from a technical perspective; Instead, we should decide based on the foundational model and structure that Sui brings to the table. While Ethereum and Solana have a proven track record with impressive capabilities, Sui’s innovative architecture — especially its object-centric approach and the tailored Move programming enhancements, positions it uniquely as a challenging contender that has the potential for massive growth.

As we anticipate Sui’s impact on the blockchain space, its roadmap unveils strategic milestones set to further strengthen its infrastructure and user experience. Starting from helpful developer toolings: Move 2024, RPC 2.0, gas profiler, and much more to specific Cryptographic improvements, such as Verifiable Delay Functions (VDF), encrypt NFTs, Randomness Beacon, etc. These critical initiatives in Sui’s roadmap not only demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation but underscores its potential to redefine the narrative of blockchain technology.

Written by: Stanley Tejakusuma and Ethan Haeberle