*This is from our interview published on YouTube
The Big Whale: You're based in San Francisco, which is historically a very progressive city. How's the mood there after Trump's election?
Politics is always a touchy subject, but so far, surprisingly, things have gone pretty well.
Cryptocurrencies are an issue supported by both Republicans and Democrats, and overall, the industry is happy to see a more crypto-friendly political environment. What cryptos really need is political leadership that understands their disruptive potential and the positive changes they can bring to the economy.
At Mysten Labs and the Sui Foundation, our goal remains to develop the best products, regardless of political power. Whether it's a Republican or a Democrat, our priority is to continue to innovate and bring our projects to fruition.
Fairly, in the wake of this election, the crypto market has surged. Without focusing on prices, would you say that your ecosystem has benefited from this improvement?
Totally. The decrease in uncertainty around cryptos is a very positive point. Platforms that solve real global problems are well positioned to thrive in this environment. For Sui, this fits with our vision of becoming the leading ecosystem.
We've always wanted to become the fastest, most scalable platform in the industry. And the results speak for themselves: Sui is seeing strong growth in the number of its developers, an increase in TVL (Total Value Locked) in its ecosystem, and significant trading volumes.
"Sui is attracting strong institutional interest" Do you think things are simpler now? More specifically, after Trump's election, are traditional players such as banks or asset managers more inclined to work on crypto projects?
Sui has been attracting strong institutional interest for some time, and the current political climate will only accelerate this trend.
When institutions consider building on a Layer 1 (first layer blockchain), they have specific requirements, particularly in terms of scalability and performance. Our offering is unique in that we offer a processing time of 300 to 400 milliseconds, without the need for optimistic (a scalability solution specific to the Ethereum ecosystem). No other blockchain offers this.
We have signed several institutional partnerships, there will be more announcements, and I expect this to continue as more players recognise the technological advantages offered by Sui.
The market already has many layer 1s: Solana, Aptos, Ethereum. What sets Sui apart from the rest?
The key difference lies in our team and our vision. While most players are building blockchains, we are focused on creating a global coordination layer.
Blockchain itself is a multi-billion dollar market, but a global coordination layer has the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar industry. Our aspirations go far beyond being just another layer 1.
The internet is becoming increasingly centralised, and I saw this first-hand when I worked at Facebook and Google. Our team-engineers, scientists and founders-has decades of experience building developer platforms and large-scale systems.
Including Evan Cheng, who played a key role in developing LLVM (Low Level Virtual Machine), an infrastructure that is widely present in devices like phones and laptops. There's also Sam Blackshear, who invented the Move programming language at Facebook.
George Danezis, a leading consensus and security scientist, having built some of the most successful consensus algorithms in use today.
The Mysten Labs team also includes Kostas Chalkias, who has developed algorithms used in particular by the largest stock exchanges; he has also designed cryptographic systems for platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook.
You also rely heavily on "Move", your programming language.
Effectively. Move is intended to be simpler to write in order to reduce errors and increase security compared with languages such as Solidity, Rust or others in the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine, editor's note) ecosystem.
Generally speaking, Sui was designed for developers. Its "object" centric model aligns with the way developers think, facilitating rapid adoption of the platform.
Security is built into the system, eliminating many of the manual checks required on other networks such as Solana or Aptos.
We don't really like the name blockchain, preferring instead to define Sui as a platform that enables interaction with decentralised technologies.
Nearly every co-founder or designer of layer 1 blockchains emphasises speed. But is this really what institutional investors are most interested in? Isn't cost also an issue?
Speed is essential, but we need to be able to demonstrate it on a large scale. Many platforms claim low latency, but the real challenge is to have that low latency with millions of users. At the moment, no other Web3 platform can do this.
And you're absolutely right: the economic aspect is also crucial. Imagine running a business where, today, you pay one cent per transaction, but if you reach a million users, the cost rises to 20 cents per transaction. That's not viable. Sui has solved this problem by ensuring that gas charges remain low and constant. The network is able to handle high throughput with low cost.
And how have you achieved this?
The difference lies in the way we construct blocks. On most blockchains, the block space is finite, which means that increased demand leads to increased costs.
Sui reverses this paradigm: our block space is essentially infinite. In traditional blockchains, adding hardware often slows down the network. What we have achieved is to allow hardware to be added without slowing down the network.
During periods of high demand, you can add hardware to process millions of transactions per second. When demand drops, you do the opposite, lowering costs while maintaining network efficiency.
This flexibility ensures that gas costs remain stable. Validators vote daily to determine gas charges, balancing supply and demand. If charges are too high, this discourages users; if they are too low, validators risk losing money. This dynamic creates a stable and fair business model.
But how do you ensure that this scalability doesn't impact latency?
Sui's architecture has been specifically designed to maintain low latency, whatever the throughput. Whether we're processing one transaction or a million, Sui guarantees execution in 300 to 400 milliseconds.
That's faster than the load time of most websites, which averages three seconds. This speed is unrivalled - no other blockchain, like Solana or Aptos, can achieve this.
This capability comes from our team's experience building large-scale systems at companies like Google and Facebook.
We've applied this expertise to create a blockchain that scales effortlessly while offering unrivalled tools for developers. Sui enables developers to create incomparable decentralised products.
This combination of scalability, cost-effectiveness and speed is what sets us apart.
Aptos, your main competitor, also uses Move. What makes you different?
First of all, it should be noted that Move was initially developed by Sam Blackshear, who is the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Mysten Labs.
At Meta (ex-Facebook), the aim of Libra was not to enable millions of users to interact directly with the blockchain. Libra was designed for intermediaries - such as exchange platforms - to facilitate that interaction.
When we left Meta, our vision changed: we wanted to build a platform that allowed individuals to interact directly with the blockchain.
Aptos, on the other hand, essentially took Meta's original code and evolved it. While they made some good improvements, Sui was built from scratch.
We developed a new consensus algorithm and restructured Move to make it more object-oriented. This object-centric model gives Sui the fastest, most parallelizable transaction engine in the world.
One of our key innovations is the concept of Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTBs), which allow multiple transactions to be chained together and processed simultaneously. For example, you can execute 50 or 100 transactions in a single operation, without having to write a single smart contract.
This significantly reduces the barrier for developers, making the platform accessible to those who are proficient in languages such as JavaScript or Python. By providing simple APIs, we drive mass adoption.
In addition, Sui supports dynamic fields, allowing developers to add new data to the string over time, unlike the fixed data models of other platforms.
This philosophy - eliminating technical constraints while enabling fluid scalability - comes from decades of experience building large-scale systems at major technology companies.
"We're not an Ethereum killer" At Paris Blockchain Week, we met Evan Cheng who explained that eventually, Ethereum's technical model would no longer be viable. So would you say that Sui is a kind of Ethereum killer?
I wouldn't say that Sui is an Ethereum killer. Rather, I would say that layer 1s are just one part of a much larger market. Sui was not created to compete within the confines of current L1 platforms; our goal is to redefine what is possible.
Ethereum, Solana and Aptos are limited in many ways. Their latency, scalability and business models restrict the types of developers and use cases they can support.
For example, compare finality times - Ethereum can take several minutes or longer, while Sui offers finality in 300 milliseconds. Even the difference between 300 milliseconds and one second opens up new possibilities for real-time applications.
Our mission is to push these boundaries and unlock broader use cases for blockchain technology. We have already reached more than 31 million active accounts on Sui, surpassing ecosystems that have existed for much longer.
Sui introduces innovative paradigms such as ZK login, which allows users to connect via Google, Facebook or WhatsApp privately and without authorisation. This makes blockchain accessible to billions of people without them needing to understand the underlying technology.
Rather than focusing on memecoin trading or niche applications, Sui is designed to be the global coordination layer of the internet - a platform for fluid interactions and innovation at scale.
So no, we're not looking to "kill" Ethereum; we're building something much bigger.
Recently, Sui experienced a problem where the blockchain stopped producing blocks, which is a significant event for a blockchain. Can you explain what happened, why it happened, and whether there is a risk of it happening again?
Sui has been available for 18 months, and in all that time we have had no downtime or network failure. What happened on 21 November lasted just two hours.
The cause was related to a recent update we had introduced earlier in the week for the transaction scheduler, a system that optimises the prioritisation of transactions for maximum speed.
Unfortunately, a bug in this update flew under the radar during testing and caused the outage.
Some members of the Ethereum community argue that, while Ethereum is neither the fastest nor the cheapest, its reliability is second to none - the blockchain has never stopped. Do you see a blockchain outage as a major problem?
I like to draw a comparison: dial-up networks were robust and worked consistently for years, but today we use broadband, which is faster and performs better. Ethereum's argument about always being online is valid, but this is often at the expense of innovation and speed.
When you push the boundaries of what is technically possible, occasional outages can occur. Solana, for example, frequently pushes these limits and has experienced more breakdowns than we have. Sui has only had one breakdown in 18 months. However, our philosophy is clear: we prefer to innovate and improve rather than stand still.
Even the biggest innovative companies - like Facebook and Google - have experienced breakdowns when introducing new features and systems. It's the very nature of innovation.
It's not about avoiding these problems at all costs, but how quickly you identify, resolve and learn from them. At Sui, that's exactly what we do, and we remain committed to offering a cutting-edge blockchain that evolves with the needs of its users.
Could you tell us about the types of projects or developers currently building on Sui? Could you also share some figures to give an idea of the size of the ecosystem?
Currently, Sui consistently maintains over $1.5 billion in total locked value (TVL), with daily trading volumes on the network sometimes exceeding $300 million. This places Sui in the top 10 layer 1s in terms of TVL and trading volumes, which is remarkable for such a young platform.
With regard to DeFi protocols, we have attracted projects such as SuiLend, which initially operated on Solana. Their team found that working on Sui made them 10 times more efficient in terms of developer experience compared to Solana.
What does that mean?
For example, we have powerful aggregators on the network with applications that scan the entire blockchain to find the most efficient trading paths.
It's like a kind of GPS for trading, dynamically optimising routes to get the best prices in real time. This is unique, because on other networks you usually have to write custom contracts to achieve this level of optimisation. Sui's aggregators, such as Aftermath, act as price comparison sites, offering the best deals without complexity.
We're also innovating in the NFT space. On Sui, NFTs store their data directly on the blockchain, which is rare because blockchain storage is traditionally expensive. Sui makes this 100 times cheaper than Solana and 2,000 times cheaper than Ethereum for data storage.
We are going even further with the launch next year of a service provided by the Walrus protocol that will allow users to store petabytes of data directly on the network at a cost comparable to AWS or GCP, with additional benefits such as high decentralisation and proof-of-stake security.
This opens the door to storing not only NFTs, but also videos, AI models and more, all managed by smart contracts.
Soon, users will also be able to manage assets on other blockchains using Sui. For example, you will be able to manage BTC, SOL or ETH directly from Sui while benefiting from lower gas fees and robust security. Eventually, our goal is to bring billions of dollars in Bitcoin trading volume to Sui.
We were at Korea Blockchain Week in September, where you explained this. But isn't gaming especially relevant in Asia, given the region's deep involvement in video game culture? Is there the same potential in Europe or the United States, where the market may be less mature?
Gaming is a global phenomenon - it's not limited to Asia. Take the free-to-play model: when it first appeared, many criticised it as a bad idea. Today, it is a standard throughout the world. Innovation often starts in one region, but successful models quickly spread globally.
Next year, Sui will launch a major partnership that will demonstrate the universal potential of gaming on an unprecedented scale.
Beyond Asia, gaming resonates because it is based on fundamental concepts: ownership, exchange, buying and selling assets, and a deeper engagement with characters and publishers. These elements are universal.
Children all over the world are watching Roblox movies- something that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Gaming is now shaping media and entertainment trends on a global scale.
At Korea Blockchain Week, we showcased the SuiPlay 0x1, a gaming console that brings together platforms like Steam, Epic Games, PC and Android in a single device.
Unlike phones, where users stick to a single device, gamers often own multiple consoles - Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Steam Deck. SuiPlay integrates these ecosystems with an operating system that runs on a variety of hardware, including TV set-top boxes.
The SuiPlay operating system also integrates ZKLogin, instantly creating Sui accounts for all users. No need for wallets, tokens or complex integration processes. Players can start trading and earning rewards immediately. This accessibility is at the heart of Sui's strategy for mass adoption.
"The price of a token serves as a barometer for assessing the value of an ecosystem" At present, Sui's DeFi ecosystem is still relatively small. How do you plan to develop it?
We have deliberately avoided the approach of some competitors of paying established players to migrate their ecosystems and replicate what they have built elsewhere.
In this sense, bringing Aave and Uniswap directly to Sui doesn't make much sense. This strategy has not generated significant growth in other ecosystems.
Our vision is that Sui is a different platform, and that to take advantage of it, we have prioritised creating a network of core developers who really understand our technology and can exploit its full potential.
This strategy is already bearing fruit. Sui's Total Locked Value (TVL) in DeFi protocols has increased significantly. We are now seeing organic migration from other blockchains such as Solana.
Developers are putting their project on Sui because it's in their interest, not because they're being paid. This organic growth is far more sustainable than incentivised migrations.
Sui is now ranked in the top 10 for TVL and trading volume, and is the second largest non-EVM blockchain after Solana. Sui is growing at an even faster rate than Solana
Franklin Templeton recently deployed one of its money market funds on Sui, while BlackRock launched BUIDL, its tokenised money market fund, on Aptos. Where are you with institutional adoption from this perspective?
The same institutional players you mentioned-such as Franklin Templeton and BlackRock-are also working with us. We've partnered with Grayscale, which launched the Sui Trust, and VanEck, which introduced the Sui ETN.
We've also integrated stablecoins such as Circle's USDC and First Digital's FDUSD.
Sui is the fastest and cheapest blockchain to send USDC globally; it's as efficient as sending USDC by email without intermediaries.
Institutional engagement goes beyond traditional finance. We also collaborate with innovators in gaming, commerce and entertainment.
We have a partnership with MoviePass, which aims to revolutionise the film industry by reimagining funding, attendance and rewards systems via blockchain.
We are currently working with a major Asian financial institution, one of the largest in the world, to launch their fund directly on Sui. This further validates our platform's ability to manage large-scale financial engineering and innovation projects.
At the end of the day, Sui isn't just a platform for finance. It's a coordination layer for assets and activities across various sectors.
You're still a very young network and the Sui foundation still owns almost 50% of the tokens. What is your plan to decentralise it?
Indeed, but these tokens are actively used to fund projects, award grants and develop the ecosystem sustainably.
The Foundation's plan is for these tokens to support the growth of the ecosystem in the long term. As we move through the issuance schedule, there are more tokens, this more tokens which gradually decentralises the network.
In contrast to many other tokens, Sui has a fixed offering of 10 billion tokens. This means that it is inherently non-inflationary, offering certainty over the total supply.
In addition, Sui uses a deflationary mechanism: the more data is stored on the blockchain-whether NFT, metadata or other assets-the more tokens are permanently blocked. For example, storing a 1GB file on Sui requires tokens to be held.
This mechanism ensures that the supply of tokens remains limited as usage increases, making Sui increasingly deflationary over time.
How important do you think the price of tokens is, and do you think Sui's current price reflects the value of its ecosystem?
Many people say the price of tokens doesn't matter, but I think it serves as a barometer for assessing the value of an ecosystem. It reflects the potential that people attribute to Mysten Labs and the Sui Foundation.
We have recently seen unprecedented interest from funds looking to invest in Sui-based projects. This indicates strong momentum for the ecosystem, even if the price of the token is a lagging indicator.
That said, our main objective is to create value through technology and innovation. By building the best platform for developers and enabling them to create exceptional products, we ensure Sui's relevance and impact. The token price will naturally reflect this over time.
What is Sui's ultimate goal and what timetable are you setting to get there?
Sui's ambition goes far beyond being a layer 1 blockchain. We aim to build the global coordination layer for digital activities. Imagine a world where APIs - currently siloed - run directly on Sui, enabling seamless integration between applications, from banking to social networking to e-commerce.
The technology is already there, it just needs to be adopted. By 2025, we expect Sui to play a central role in redefining how users and institutions interact with blockchain, making it an integral part of everyday life.
