Sui's Daily Active Addresses Surge 14% as DeFi Sector Thrives

Sui, a blockchain platform, has been making significant strides in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, drawing comparisons to Solana's breakout in 2021. The Sui network has seen a 14% increase in daily active addresses from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, indicating rising network activity. Additionally, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector on Sui is thriving, with daily trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) built on Sui climbing 14.5% to a record $34.3 million. Lending protocols on Sui are also attracting attention, offering returns nearly double those on Solana, with annual percentage yields (APYs) reaching 12.69% on stablecoins. Furthermore, Sui has surpassed Solana in daily stablecoin transfer volume.

Sui's growth is not limited to on-chain metrics. The blockchain has partnered with Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) to support and help startups grow in the Middle East's virtual asset ecosystem. Additionally, there is growing speculation around the potential for a spot Sui ETF. Asset manager 21Shares has filed for a Sui-based ETF on NASDAQ and Cboe exchanges, with approvals currently pending. If approved, this could provide institutional investors with easy exposure to Sui.

Momentum, a decentralized exchange built on the Sui blockchain, has secured a strategic funding round at a $100 million valuation led by OKX Ventures. The round included participation from Coinbase Ventures, Protagonist, DNA Fund, Gate Ventures, MEXC Ventures, and KuCoin Ventures. The newly raised capital is intended to help scale platform operations, increase liquidity depth, and support the development of new product features aimed at both retail and institutional users. Momentum operates on Sui, utilizing the Move programming language to provide trading, token vesting, and treasury management services. It officially launched its trading platform in March this year, marking its transition out of stealth mode. Before its public launch, Momentum spent over two years developing its core technology and establishing partnerships with key ecosystem players such as the Sui Foundation, Bluefin, Cetus Protocol, Agora Finance, AlphaFi, and Ondo Finance. Momentum was also involved in minting the full supply of several stablecoins on Sui, including Agora USD (AUSD), First Digital USD (FDUSD), and USDY. Unlike conventional DEX models that focus on liquidity providers, Momentum employs a vote-escrowed tokenomics model known as ve(3,3), which incentivizes users to lock up the platform’s governance token, MMT, in exchange for voting power and a share of the protocol’s revenue. This design aligns the interests of liquidity providers, traders, and the protocol itself by redistributing 100% of trading fees and rewards to veMMT holders.