Sui Blockchain Explained: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Introduction

Blockchain technology has been a prominent buzzword in the tech industry for several years, and its decentralized nature has created a reliable solution for the issues many industries face today. Blockchain's potential to transform several industries has resulted in the development of numerous blockchain platforms, one of which is the Sui Blockchain.

Sui Blockchain is one of the latest products in the crypto market. This platform is rapidly expanding due to its unique features designed to address the issues of scalability, security, and high gas fees.

In this article, we will go over Sui Blockchain in detail, including how it works, its unique characteristics, potential applications, and the SUI token. Let's dive right in.

What is SUI Blockchain and How Does it Work?

Sui is a Layer 1 blockchain protocol designed to deliver instant settlement and high throughput while reducing the time it takes to execute smart contracts. This feature allows developers to create next-generation latency-sensitive decentralized applications without worrying about code.

Sui was launched in 2018 by Mysten Labs, a research and development firm created by former senior executives at Meta's Novi Research and key architects of the Diem blockchain and Move programming language. Evan Cheng, Adeniyi Abiodun, Sam Blackshear, Giorgos Danezis, and Kostas Chalkias are the core members of the Sui team.

Sui blockchain is unlike other blockchain protocols. The platform uses the Narwhal-Tusk consensus algorithm to decouple data transmission from the transaction consensus process. Sui checks only relevant data rather than having all nodes in the network validate each transaction.

A blockchain transaction is usually a peer-to-peer transfer. Sui blockchain understands this transaction and optimizes it by separating two types of assets - owned objects, which can only be updated by their owner, and shared objects, which have no specific owners and can be modified by several users. This process allows the protocol to conduct fast transactions by avoiding consensus for simple transactions involving only owned objects. It also allows developers on the network to create single-writer programs without requiring extensive coding knowledge.

Sui only uses consensus for transactions involving shared items, and the protocol uses Narwhal DAG-based mempool and Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus for this purpose. Validators on the Sui network order transactions that access shared objects when needed.

The Architecture of Sui Blockchain

Unlike traditional blockchains, which depend on fired and forgotten broadcasts, Sui's architecture allows proxies to proactively connect with validators to finish transactions, resulting in super-fast transactions.

Sui protocol is built around three key concepts: objects, transactions, and validators.

• Objects

Objects are the primary storage unit in the Sui network. These programmable objects are created and maintained by Move-enabled smart contracts. Every object has a unique owner, determining how it is used in transactions.

Sui blockchain stores a collection of programmable items, each with its unique ID. Each address on the Sui blockchain owns an object or an arbitrary number of objects. The ledger is updated whenever a transaction is submitted from an address.

• Transactions

Each transaction on the blockchain can create, remove, and write items and transfer them to other locations. Each transaction on the blockchain has a sequence of input object references plus a pointer to an existing Sui Move code object on the blockchain. The protocol modifies the input objects and creates a set of newly generated objects with their owner addresses when there's a new transaction.

Move is a programming language based on the famous Rust language created by Facebook (now Meta) for their now-defunct blockchain experiment, Diem. The Sui network supports smart contract executions using the Sui Move language. Sui’s Move is a bytecode language that helps Sui become one of the safest and most secure smart contract platforms by preventing double-spending. It was created to address issues of current programming languages, such as Solidity, that were not built to handle blockchain asset representations safely.

• Validators

Validators in the Sui network govern the Sui blockchain network by handling client "read and write" requests. Sui blockchain validators do not need consensus to execute transactions involving solely held items. Instead, they use Byzantine Consistent Broadcast to perform transactions parallel with high throughput. The validators use Bullshark, a high-throughput DAG-based consensus technique, for items that contain shared objects.

Key Features of Sui Blockchain

Sui blockchain offers unique and intriguing features that address scalability, security, and high gas fees. Below are the important ones.

Simplified Developer Experience: Sui uses Move’s blockchain-oriented programming language, which enables developers to enjoy a simple UX experience on the platform. Even inexperienced developers can write less boilerplate code and make fewer mistakes with fundamental principles. What’s more? By providing numerous tools based on the Sui SDK, developers can create dApps and other Web3 applications with enhanced UXs.

Parallel Execution: Sui blockchain uses a parallel execution method to process numerous transactions simultaneously, and this starkly contrasts with standard blockchain systems, which execute transactions one at a time. According to its documentation, Sui can handle up to 120,000 transactions per second.

Gas Fee: Another unique feature of the Sui blockchain is how the network handles gas fees. Unlike standard blockchain systems, where gas fees fluctuate depending on network demand, the Sui blockchain maintains a consistent gas fee across epochs.

What exactly is an Epoch?

An epoch is a unit of time during which the network's validators remain constant. The Sui network divides network operations into non-overlapping, approximate fixed-duration epochs. During an epoch, the number of validators in the network and their voting power are fixed. This ensures a consistent gas fee throughout a 24-hour period.

Possible Drawbacks of Sui Blockchain

While Sui Blockchain has some unique characteristics and benefits, there are drawbacks.

One such is that, unlike typical blockchains, the Sui blockchain employs the Byzantine Reliable Broadcast and a consensus protocol. Transactions are managed using the Byzantine Reliable Broadcast, whereas the consensus protocol handles transactions involving shared objects. This means that developers on the network must maintain a much larger codebase.

In addition, Sui’s proprietary programming language is new. As a result, few developers understand Move and can contribute to the Sui ecosystem.

The Future of Sui Blockchain

The Sui project has a clear vision for the future. Currently, developers on the platform can write and test smart contracts with the Move programming language. They can also run their projects on the local network. Sui is set to release a public devnet where developers can perform all their activities on a shared network and a public mainnet with tangible assets and production applications.

Sui's future goals, as stated in the official roadmap, include the following:

Production of the network stack, running the Sui network, and benchmarking throughput on the internal devnet.

Add checkpoints in the ledger and at the state level, complete the REST data model, integrate shared objects and consensus, and define core data types for product stabilization.

Add a block explorer, key management and wallet prototypes, more informative error messages, and useful APIs for its SDK and ecosystem.

What Is the SUI Token?

SUI is the native currency of the Sui blockchain. The SUI token allows users to stake and pay gas fees on the network. SUI token holders can also vote on on-chain governance matters for the ecosystem.

SUI token holders that delegate their tokens to validators will be rewarded for helping to secure the network. After each epoch, rewards are awarded based on gas fees. SUI token can also be used to fund the Sui storage fund, allowing stake rewards to be distributed over time and compensating future validators for the expenses of previously stored on-chain data.

Although, the token isn’t live yet, the network has announced the launch of a community access program in which dedicated community members can purchase 594 million SUI tokens.

The SUI token has a maximum supply of 10 billion coins. The project plans to release some of the tokens at launch and the remaining ones over time. At launch, 50% will go to the Community Reserve for grants, validator subsidies, and research and development. The Community Reserve will use the SUI tokens for projects such as:

Community members who want to operate a validator cab apply for delegated SUI tokens through the SUI Delegation Program. This will help community-run validators establish a community and encourage network validators to allocate stakes equally.

SUI tokens will be awarded directly to developers, community ambassadors, and others constructing or developing Sui instructional content. In addition, some tokens will be allocated towards research and development of the Sui protocol.

SUI tokens will also be used to subsidize staking rewards. Aside from Community Reserve, 20% of total SUI tokens will be distributed to early project contributors, 14% to investors, 10% to the Mysten Labs treasury, and 6% to the Community Access Program (CAP) and app testers.

What is Sui Storage Fund?

Sui users also use the SUI token to pay for storage funds. So, what is a Storage Fund?

Sui network uses a storage fund to cover large volumes of on-chain data. The fund is used to redistribute storage fees collected over time. Users on the network have to pay both the computation and storage fees before submitting a transaction. The funds collected are then allocated to new validators to fight off the expense of large data storage. Validators gain significant extra incentives to compensate for their expenses when on-chain storage needs are high, when storage needs are minimal, and vice versa.

The Storage fund is funded by those creating on-chain data and pays future validators for the huge storage required upon joining the ecosystem. This reduces the obstacles new validators may face when joining the Sui ecosystem.

Projects Building on Sui Blockchain

Sui Blockchain is a powerful and flexible platform that can be used for various applications. Here are some popular platforms that are built on the Sui Blockchain:

• Coin98 Wallet

Coin98 Wallet is a multi-chain wallet that allows you to buy and sell multiple cryptocurrencies. It enables users to access various DeFi services across blockchains smoothly. Users can also swap tokens natively with the best rate and slippage.

• Axelar

Axelar Network is a Web3 protocol that allows for safe cross-chain communication. With a single click, platform users may engage with any asset or application across several IBC chains and the Sui Network.

• ComingChat

ComingChat is an OmniBTC mobile portal that allows users to swap native assets on two different chains with just one click. Users can also mortgage numerous assets and borrow many stablecoins on any chain with a single click in the ComingChat 'OmniLending' interface.

• Araya Finance

Araya Finance is a native DeFi protocol on the SUI ecosystem that allows users to build token-independent liquidity pools with the help of smart contracts. Users can also use Araya's private formula to provide quick, low-slippage, low-fee transactions for SUI ecosystem tokens.

Conclusion

With its unique features and applications, the Sui blockchain looks to be the platform for the future. At its full potential, users will be able to store their digital assets and transact at unprecedented speeds on a more secure web3 blockchain.

One cannot underestimate the platform's efficiency with its enhanced transaction speeds. This might be the beginning of a bright future for the entire cryptocurrency sector and its consumers. We can only expect more advancements and developments as the platform continues to evolve.