Sui Overtakes Cardano, Near, and Aptos in DeFi Capital Locked, SUI Token Up 131%

According to CoinDesk, Layer 1 blockchain Sui has seen a significant increase in inflows this month, overtaking Cardano, Near, and Aptos in terms of total value locked (TVL) on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. The network, created by former Meta employees, now has over $593 million in capital locked across various DeFi protocols, more than double its total at the beginning of the year when it had $211 million, according to DefiLlama data. In the past 30 days, $310 million has been bridged to Sui from Ethereum, as shown by data from wormholescan.io. Sui is often compared to Aptos, as both are built using Move, a programming language originally developed at Meta for the Diem blockchain. After a turbulent start following its debut on Binance's launchpad in May last year, Sui found its footing after a wave of inscription-related activity. On December 22, Sui produced 13.8 million blocks, with transactions per second (TPS) reaching a peak of 6,000. In contrast to other Layer 1s like Ethereum, gas prices during this high traffic phase decreased, according to a Sui blog post. Currently, there are 106 validators operating 413 nodes to secure the Sui blockchain, as per Suiexplorer. This has boosted the confidence of developers and investors, leading to an increase in both the SUI token price and on-chain TVL in the following weeks. The two largest protocols on Sui are Scallop Lend and Navi Protocol, two lending platforms that have both seen TVL quadruple since the beginning of the year. The SUI token is currently trading at $1.80, having risen by 131% since January 1, outperforming the CoinDesk 20 index, which is up by 10% in the same period.