The SUI ecosystem is thriving, with TVL surpassing 300 million USD and top DeFi projects experiencing comprehensive rise.

Recently, the price of Sui's native Token SUI has been continuously rising, bringing its valuation almost back to the highest level since its launch, surpassing other competitors in the MOVE ecosystem. At the same time, Sui's total Lock-up Position (TVL) has also been steadily increasing, gradually rising from $175 million at the beginning of December to $328 million by mid-January.

This rise trend may have positively impacted the recovery of the SUI token price. The driving force behind this comes from several initiatives by the Sui Foundation, including developer funding programs, project funding programs, and education and support programs, aimed at promoting the development of the ecosystem. As of January 12, a total of 86 projects have received a total of $4.72 million in funding.

In addition, Sui also specifically supports liquid staking, announcing on December 14, 2023, to contribute 25 million SUI tokens to increase liquidity for liquid staking tokens (LST) across various DeFi protocols. Sui also seems to be continuously providing token incentives to leading DeFi projects, with SUI token rewards allocated by the official appearing in almost all major DeFi projects.

This virtuous cycle may have promoted the development of the Sui ecosystem and the rise of the SUI price. Below is an overview of the development status of leading DeFi projects on Sui:

NAVI Protocol is a lending protocol that has seen a TVL rise of 208% over the past month. Users can earn incentives by depositing and borrowing SUI, USDC, and USDT, and in some cases, they can also arbitrage through circular borrowing. NAVI has not yet issued its own governance token, which is expected to be released in the first or second quarter of 2024.

A certain DEX is the largest decentralized exchange on Sui, consistently holding the top position for Sui TVL. It has a close relationship with the Sui official team and has jointly hosted several events. The platform adopts a concentrated liquidity model, allowing certain trading pairs to generate higher yields during periods of significant market volatility.

Scallop is another lending protocol that is currently undergoing an incentive program funded by multiple parties. Users can earn returns through deposits or revolving loans, but due to the higher APR on direct deposits, most users have chosen this method.

DeepBook is an order book DEX built by the Sui Foundation and the MovEx team, which other DeFi protocols can integrate its liquidity. As part of Sui, it may not issue additional governance tokens.

FlowX Finance is a DEX with a continuously rising TVL. Currently, providing liquidity on this platform can earn SUI Token rewards, with some trading pairs offering an APR of up to 36%.

Aftermath Finance provides LST, AMM DEX, and trading aggregator services. Its LST product afSUI is the main source of liquidity, and currently, there are only a few liquidity pools available for SUI Token incentives.

KriyaDEX is a spot and perpetual contract DEX that features allowing users to lock-up liquidity to obtain higher APR.

Overall, the projects with high TVL in the Sui ecosystem are mainly concentrated in three categories: liquid staking, lending, and DEX. Liquid staking projects receive additional support from Sui, and the APR in various DEXs is quite attractive. Lending projects like NAVI Protocol have grown rapidly recently and have airdrop expectations. DEX projects are developing steadily.