Behind the Surge of the Sui Ecosystem: Capital Inflows, Major Developments, and Potential Risks

Recently, the Sui ecosystem has experienced significant growth, with its governance token rising over 75% in a week, greatly outperforming the overall market performance. This phenomenon is attributed to a combination of factors, including speculative enthusiasm, changes in capital flow, and ongoing improvements in the ecosystem's fundamentals. This article will delve into the capital movements of this rally, key catalysts, on-chain data performance, and potential risks, providing a comprehensive interpretation of the logic behind this ecological prosperity.

Influx of funds into the exchange, significant increase in contract positions

From the perspective of on-chain capital flow, Sui has seen a net outflow of 32 million USD in the last three months, which is relatively small. In the recent month and week, the changes in Sui's on-chain capital are even negligible, and it has not even entered the top twenty in the public chain rankings.

However, the fund flow of the exchange shows a significant influx of capital into the Sui ecosystem. Data indicates that in the past seven days, the spot fund inflow of SUI reached 62.86 million USD, ranking fourth among all cryptocurrencies. During the same period, the contract fund inflows of Sui network ecosystem tokens such as WAL, MEMEFI, and CETUS also made it to the top ten, reflecting the high activity of the Sui ecosystem.

The contract holdings of SUI tokens began to surge on April 21, increasing from $700 million to $1.419 billion within a week, close to the historical high of $1.5 billion. Most tokens in the Sui ecosystem also saw significant increases during this period, with nearly 20% of projects rising over 100% and 37.5% of projects rising over 50%, showing a comprehensive upward trend.

Multiple positive factors boost market sentiment

Starting from April 21, mainstream tokens began to rebound broadly, and Sui also started to rise. Subsequently, several positive news reports emerged, although it is difficult to determine whether these news items are the direct cause of the price increase or part of a strategy to boost prices.

Important benefits include:

1. Pokémon collaboration rumors: Originating from the update of the privacy policy of the Pokémon HOME app, which lists Parasol Technologies, acquired by Sui, as an authorized developer. This has sparked speculation in the market about the potential integration of Pokémon IP into the Sui blockchain.

2. xMoney/xPortal Collaboration: Sui announced a partnership with these platforms to launch the Sui-branded virtual Mastercard in Europe, integrated into the xPortal app, which has 2.5 million users.

3. ETF-related news: The information about the "SUI ETF" statutory trust entity established by 21Shares back in January 2025 has been re-exposed, providing support for the rise of SUI.

In addition, Sui has made progress in multiple areas such as Web3 gaming, privacy, and development environments, creating an overall positive atmosphere.

DEX trading volume surges, facing dual pressures of token unlocking and application development.

Since April, the DEX trading volume on the Sui network has remained high, reaching a historic peak of $998 million on March 29. The leading DEX in the ecosystem, Cetus Protocol, saw its trading volume increase by 84.5% over the past week, with its token CETUS price nearly doubling. Another important contributor, Kriya, contributed $780 million in trading volume on March 29 alone.

The surge in trading volume is largely attributed to the Walrus airdrop event. On March 27, the decentralized storage project released the airdrop, resulting in a trading volume of $380 million on that day, which energized trading activity across the entire ecosystem.

Developer activity is also an important factor in the growth of the Sui network. Since December 2024, the frequency of Sui's Github code submissions has significantly increased, maintaining over 500 submissions per week, far surpassing Solana and Aptos.

However, the SUI token faces ongoing unlocking pressure, with tens of millions of tokens released weekly, becoming the largest source of supply in the market, which poses a potential threat to the price.

In addition, the rise of the Sui ecosystem is mainly led by DEX and infrastructure projects, while application and game projects have not performed prominently. Currently, tokens with a higher market capitalization are still concentrated in early projects, and there is a lack of "hit" applications in the ecosystem that can attract a large number of users.

In summary, the recent surge of SUI and its ecosystem is the result of the combined effects of market speculation, capital inflows, expectations in the contract market, and fundamental developments. However, while paying attention to price performance, one must also be cautious of the selling pressure brought about by the continuous unlocking of tokens and monitor whether the application ecosystem can further thrive, as this will determine whether Sui can convert its current popularity into long-term value.