The Sui layer 1 (SUI) chain has received significant attention lately. As of this writing, EUI is up 125% in the last 30 days and shot 345% from its annual low of $0.46 on August 5th. These impressive numbers position SUI among the top performers in the crypto market over the past two months and as one of the few altcoins to have reached an all-time high.
SUI vs. Solana
Yesterday, the buzz intensified when several accounts on X shared charts suggesting that SUI had overtaken Solana in daily transactions for the first time. Enthusiasts were quick to praise SUI as the next “Layer 1 killer,” poised to overtake Solana, which has been a top competitor among Layer 1 blockchains behind Ethereum.
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However, this claim faces scrutiny from industry experts. Developer João Mendonça took to refute the claims, stating: “SUI has not outperformed Solana in daily transactions – there is no free lunch. Left = a misleading graph where each statement of each transaction is counted as a transaction in the SUI. Right = Artemis’s genuine reading of daily transactions.”
Mendonça referenced a detailed explanation from analytics firm Artemis from May. The company highlighted that in traditional Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) architectures, users submit transactions that execute a set of instructions. In contrast, on the SUI blockchain, users submit a transaction block containing multiple transactions that update objects in the global state. Therefore, comparing transaction counts directly between SUI and other networks like Solana may be misleading.
They explained: “Artemis decided to count blocks of Sui transactions instead of transactions when comparing activity with Ethereum and other chains. This decision was based on the fact that Sui has a different architecture than EVM, and counting transaction blocks provides a more accurate picture of user interactions.”
Prominent crypto analyst VirtualBacon also weighed in the speech, analyzing the SUI/SOL price chart. He commented: “SUI vs SOL relationship almost at resistance. It is necessary to question the positive potential of this “new L1 killer”. For this to continue working for another month, either it completely takes over Solana’s market share or we go back to the proven chain.”
Expressing skepticism about SUI’s ability to maintain its momentum against Solana price, he added: “Somehow people in the comments believe it’s still early for $SUI at ATH and 20B FDV. It’s not even close to Solana level adoption.”
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Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe also cast doubt that the SUI price could surpass the all-time high immediately. Via X, he wrote today: “SUI ran away and printed a new all-time record. The first! It didn’t allow me to enter, but it can be overcome for now. Looking at the same region or $1.85 for gateway zones. Huge hallway.”
Despite the debates, SUI has undeniably gained strength. In September, Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor and RealVision, praised SUI as a “complete, ultra-fast, super-efficient L1 blockchain ecosystem.” He emphasized that SUI, developed from the remnants of Meta’s Diem project, is designed to scale to billions of users transitioning from Web2 to Web3 technologies. Pal’s endorsement has broadened interest in SUI within the crypto community.
Adding to its growing ecosystem, Circle – the company behind USDC, the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization – announced in September that the Sui network would support USDC. This integration is expected to increase the liquidity and utility of the Sui blockchain, potentially attracting more developers and users.
Most recently, on Monday, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced support for SUI on its Launchpool platform. This change makes SUI only the second chain available on the service after Cloak (MNT)providing users with new opportunities to earn rewards and participate in the Sui ecosystem.
At press time, SUI was trading at $2.01.
CoinDCX Featured Image, Chart from TradingView.com