The Origins of Sui and Move

The story of Sui and the Move programming language begins with the Libra project at Facebook (now Meta). Sam Blackshear, the creator of Move, and Evan Cheng, who led the research team, were key players in the development of Libra's blockchain technology. As they worked on Libra, they identified limitations and areas for improvement, particularly in scaling beyond a single machine and lowering latency.

Despite the technical progress made on Libra, the project faced obstacles unrelated to the technology itself. Recognizing the potential of their work and seeing the need for their innovations in the broader blockchain ecosystem, Blackshear and Cheng decided to venture out on their own. In November 2021, they founded Mysten Labs and began work on Sui, a new Layer 1 blockchain leveraging the Move programming language.

Understanding Move: A Purpose-Built Smart Contract Language

Move was created as a response to the specific needs of smart contract programming. After careful study of existing solutions like Solidity and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Blackshear and his team determined that smart contract languages are more akin to domain-specific languages (DSLs) than general-purpose programming languages.

The core focus of Move is on creating, transferring, and sharing digital assets, with built-in access control mechanisms. This specialized focus allows Move to provide safer and more intuitive abstractions for smart contract development compared to adapting general-purpose languages or virtual machines.

As Blackshear explains:

"We ended up thinking is like, look, this smart contracts thing, it's a these languages are a lot more like a DSL than like a general purpose program language. Like they only do, they only do a couple of things like you're going to create objects, you're going to transfer and share them. You're going to do access control checks and you're not going to do so much more."

This targeted approach enables Move to offer built-in safety features and ergonomic handling of digital assets, which are central to blockchain applications.

Sui's Technical Architecture

Sui differentiates itself from other blockchain platforms through its unique data model and execution strategy. Unlike account-based systems like Ethereum or Solana, Sui uses an object-oriented data model. In this model, the global storage is represented as a set of objects with unique identifiers, each containing metadata about ownership and mutability.

This object-oriented approach allows for more granular and efficient parallel execution of transactions. Sui can easily determine which objects a transaction will interact with, enabling better scheduling and parallelization of execution across multiple cores or even separate machines.

Sam Blackshear elaborates on this architecture:

"In sweet we observe is with when you look at computations some of them require ordering beforehand and some of them don't. And especially in a particular things like object transfers or payments they actually don't require full consensus you can get away with a weaker systems from the call this existing system broadcast."

This design choice leads to significant performance benefits, particularly in terms of latency and throughput.

Sui's Approach to Scalability

Sui addresses scalability through several key mechanisms:

1. Parallel Execution: The object-oriented data model allows for easy identification of transaction dependencies, enabling efficient parallel processing.

2. Consensus Fast Path: Sui implements a fast path for certain types of transactions that don't require full consensus, significantly reducing latency for operations like simple transfers.

3. Incentivized Parallelism: The gas pricing mechanism in Sui is designed to encourage developers to write code that avoids contention on shared state, naturally promoting parallelizable workloads.

4. Horizontal Scaling: Sui's architecture allows for distributing execution and storage across multiple workers or machines, enabling the network to scale beyond the limitations of a single powerful server.

Evan Cheng emphasizes the importance of this approach:

"So you've from the high level right what we want people to think about when you think about three years. It's a platform where a lot of these things that you are concerned about with other block is just a simple state. You don't really think about scaling you don't think about performance you don't think about the stability they just work on the focus on how come reading able to solve problems."

Low Latency and Its Importance

One of Sui's primary focuses is achieving ultra-low latency. This is crucial for enabling real-time applications, particularly in gaming and payment systems. Sui achieves this through its consensus fast path, which allows certain transactions to bypass full consensus.

Blackshear explains the benefits:

"So what that lets us do is that we can have some transactions like payments or transfers that are that have and then laid say a 400 milliseconds which is just a lot better than you're going to do if you have to go through full consensus and then for consensus you know the bells and whistles to make that fast as well."

This low-latency capability opens up new possibilities for blockchain applications that require near-instantaneous feedback and interactivity.

State Growth and Storage Scalability

Sui takes a unique approach to handling state growth and storage scalability. Unlike some blockchain systems that aim to limit state growth, Sui embraces it, focusing instead on making storage cheap and efficient.

The platform leverages conventional database technologies and allows for easy provisioning of additional storage as needed. This approach eliminates the need for complex global authenticated data structures, making state management more straightforward and cost-effective.

Blackshear notes:

"We don't we don't mind state growth our our storage is very very cheap. I think it's actually 100 X cheaper than slot now slot of folks are going to say things about NFT compression and how like that's that's the way to get cheaper storage show you know which fair enough you know that's a discussion that we can have as well."

Developer Experience and Ecosystem Growth

A key focus for Sui is improving the developer experience and lowering barriers to entry for both developers and end-users. Some notable features include:

1. ZK Login: This feature allows users to interact with Sui applications using their existing Web2 accounts (Google, Facebook, Apple), eliminating the need for separate crypto wallets.

2. Sponsored Transactions: Developers can cover gas fees for their users, enabling more traditional revenue models and reducing friction for new users.

3. Native Standards: Sui implements several standards at the protocol level, such as royalty enforcement for NFTs and controlled tokens for loyalty programs, simplifying development of common use cases.

Evan Cheng emphasizes the importance of these features:

"We point to the product experience, all products are able to shoot. And that's how, you know, you might be in a lot of way winning the battle right now."

Sui vs Other Blockchains

When comparing Sui to other blockchains, particularly those also using the Move language like Aptos, the founders emphasize Sui's focus on enabling developers to reach the broadest possible audience. They point to features like ZK Login and sponsored transactions as key differentiators that make it easier for developers to create accessible applications.

Cheng notes the practical differences:

"I just look at what's happening through you after seven months versus other chances after seven months, right? I think the answer is very clear. You know, who are capturing the imagination of developers?"

The Role of Economic Security

While economic security (the cost to attack the network) is a consideration for Sui, the founders align with the view that it's not the most critical aspect of blockchain security. They argue that social consensus and the increasing cost of attacks as the ecosystem grows provide significant protection.

Blackshear explains:

"I think there's a good enough threshold here. And I think basically, look, I haven't seen a lot of cases where blockchains have been attacked via the economic security angle and especially not really on. I think it's something where it's like, there are many, many security problems with blockchains, but this isn't the biggest one."

Atomic Composability and Its Importance

Sui strongly believes in the importance of atomic composability within a single blockchain ecosystem. This allows developers to create applications that can seamlessly interact with all assets and protocols on the platform without worrying about cross-chain communication or differing security models.

Blackshear argues:

"I think the atomic composability aspect is a really key part of the program ability because let's say everything is on the same platform as a developer. I can write code that accesses all the assets, all the building blocks out there. As a user, I can, I can have applications that are using any of those. And I don't have to be aware of any of the implementation details of where those assets, wherever if I have different latencies for interacting for one person, that will one asset versus another, different security models."

This stands in contrast to the multi-chain or layer-2 scaling approaches that fragment the ecosystem across multiple systems.

Validator Requirements and Decentralization

Sui aims to strike a balance between performance and decentralization. Currently, running a Sui validator costs around $750 per month and requires a stake of 20 million SUI tokens. While this may seem high, the founders argue that it's necessary to ensure the network can handle consumer-grade transaction volumes.

Cheng addresses the decentralization concerns:

"There is definitely a large group of web sweet developer that when we pitched to them like we tend to talk about the merits of the language, but also the platform as a whole. Right this is part perhaps something that's a little bit of misunderstanding about you know in the general blockchain industry."

They also emphasize that true decentralization should be measured by users' ability to verify transactions relevant to them, rather than the raw number of validators.

The Future of Blockchain and Sui's Role

Looking ahead, the Sui team envisions a future where billions of people benefit from blockchain technology, often without even realizing it. They hope to see more experimentation and iteration in blockchain-based products, moving beyond the current focus on speculative assets.

Cheng expresses this vision:

"At a very high level, I hope in five years there are billions of people that are indirectly benefiting from the technology we're building. Barches and crypto, whatever you want to call it, Web3. It doesn't make sense for the general public to be even be aware of what the blockchain network they're using."

Blackshear adds:

"I think for me, my ambitions are really simple. It's like, I just want a proper product iteration and experimentation cycle. I want to be possible for people to have like, okay, this is an idea of how I can incorporate some crypto power element to my product."

Sui's Target Markets: Gaming and Commerce

While Sui is designed as a general-purpose blockchain platform, the team has identified gaming and commerce as particularly promising initial markets. The gaming industry is known for its willingness to experiment with new technologies and business models, making it an ideal testing ground for blockchain integration.

Cheng explains:

"I think gaming is particularly interesting because gaming industry always kind of experiments with a business model we experiment with tech, right? So, naturally, they're one of the ones that we, you know, we spend a lot of time with."

However, the team sees commerce as the ultimate goal, given that nearly all consumer products have some element of commerce involved. This could range from simple payments to complex asset exchanges and yield-generating activities.

The Importance of Native Features and Standards

Sui places a strong emphasis on implementing key features and standards at the protocol level, rather than relying solely on third-party implementations. This approach aims to provide a more consistent and secure experience for both developers and users.

Blackshear highlights this philosophy:

"I think the in training is super important, the same reason that any standard is important, like sure, they're like, they're, you might have like what three other things that superficially looks similar to what ZK log and is doing, but the difference there is like, you got to go trust some centralized service provider, you got to sign up, you got to pay a monthly fee, whereas like on suite, it's a native feature, like you go and use it, you're not paying anybody, it's secure, it's big to the protocol, there's no centralized services, there's no third party things at all, except for the web two providers, and that just fits in there."

This native implementation of features like ZK Login, sponsored transactions, and asset standards reduces fragmentation in the ecosystem and provides a more seamless experience for developers building on Sui.

Addressing the Challenges of Web3 Adoption

One of the primary goals of Sui is to address the current challenges hindering widespread Web3 adoption. The team recognizes that existing blockchain platforms often present significant barriers to entry for both developers and end-users.

Cheng notes:

"You know, this is only time when you're thinking about using technology you have to be very very keenly aware the different scaling strategy right or you asking part of your order to say well you probably have to use different components that you know best suits your knees where you can have to you know think about you know on the auto you have to think about a sequencer you have to think about a settlement layer and all that sort of thing this is being a lot of way nuts right."

By simplifying the development process and improving the user experience through features like ZK Login and sponsored transactions, Sui aims to make blockchain technology more accessible to a broader audience.

The Role of Move in Enhancing Security

While no programming language can completely eliminate the possibility of bugs or vulnerabilities, Move was designed with a focus on enhancing security in smart contract development. The language's resource-oriented programming model and built-in safety features aim to prevent common pitfalls that have led to high-profile hacks in other blockchain ecosystems.

Blackshear explains the security benefits of Move:

"Your arguments have to be based on foundations and they have to be based on pure problems with existing languages that my language or my platform can just take off the table period for developers and like so if an example of a problem that's going to happen in the world, it's going to be a problem."

This focus on security at the language level aims to reduce the likelihood of costly errors and exploits in Sui-based applications.

Sui's Approach to Blockchain Scalability

Sui's approach to scalability differs from some other prominent blockchain projects. Instead of relying heavily on layer-2 solutions or sharding, Sui focuses on maximizing the efficiency and throughput of its base layer.

Blackshear elaborates on this strategy:

"We're starting from a data model that's oriented around objects instead of run accounts let's look at Solana or a theory and these are what they're different in a way but in the data model they're similar like everything is based on accounts right like yeah accounts and if you have and if you have coins if you have NFT is the way you represent ownership is there's a large hash table in this hash table."

This object-oriented approach allows for more efficient parallel processing and enables Sui to scale horizontally by adding more computational resources as needed.

The Vision for Sui's Ecosystem Growth

The Sui team envisions a vibrant ecosystem where developers can easily experiment with blockchain technology without needing to completely pivot their existing products or business models. They aim to make blockchain integration as seamless as possible, allowing for incremental adoption and experimentation.

Blackshear shares this vision:

"I just want a proper product iteration and experimentation cycle. I want to be possible for people to have like, okay, this is an idea of how I can incorporate some crypto power element to my product. I can try it out. If it has value, great. I'm going to keep it. If not, you know, iterate on it and maybe eventually throw it out."

This approach aims to foster innovation and discover new use cases for blockchain technology that may not be immediately apparent.

Addressing Centralization Concerns

While Sui requires relatively high-powered hardware for validators, the team argues that this is necessary to achieve the performance required for consumer-grade applications. They contend that true decentralization should be measured by users' ability to verify the transactions relevant to them, rather than by the raw number of validators.

Cheng addresses this perspective:

"You know, it's about trade off. And we believe you're trading off the kind of experience you can build, kind of product experience and build. And that's their terrible trade off, right?"

The team emphasizes that Sui's architecture allows for efficient verification of relevant transactions without requiring users to run full nodes.

The Importance of Low Latency in Blockchain Applications

Sui places a strong emphasis on achieving low latency, recognizing its crucial role in enabling real-time applications and improving user experience. The platform's ability to process certain transactions in as little as 400 milliseconds opens up new possibilities for blockchain-based applications.

Blackshear highlights the significance of this feature:

"So what that lets us do is that we can have some transactions like payments or transfers that are that have and then laid say a 400 milliseconds which is just a lot better than you're going to do if you have to go through full consensus and then for consensus you know the bells and whistles to make that fast as well."

This low latency is particularly important for gaming applications, real-time financial transactions, and other use cases where instant feedback is crucial.

Sui's Strategy for Developer Acquisition

Recognizing the importance of building a strong developer community, Sui has implemented several strategies to attract and retain talented developers. These include:

1. Focusing on developer experience and ease of use
2. Providing robust tools and documentation
3. Implementing features that expand the potential user base, such as ZK Login
4. Offering native support for common use cases and standards

Cheng emphasizes the importance of this approach:

"We believe you're trading off the kind of experience you can build, kind of product experience and build. And that's their terrible trade off, right?"

By making it easier for developers to build and scale applications, Sui aims to become a preferred platform for blockchain development.

The Role of Atomic Composability in Sui's Design

Sui strongly advocates for atomic composability within its ecosystem, arguing that it's crucial for enabling complex, interoperable applications. This design philosophy stands in contrast to some other scaling approaches that fragment the ecosystem across multiple chains or layers.

Blackshear explains the importance of this approach:

"I think the atomic composability aspect is a really key part of the program ability because let's say everything is on the same platform as a developer. I can write code that accesses all the assets, all the building blocks out there. As a user, I can, I can have applications that are using any of those."

This composability aims to foster a more integrated and efficient ecosystem, where developers can easily combine different protocols and assets to create innovative applications.

Sui's Vision for the Future of Blockchain Technology

Looking ahead, the Sui team envisions a future where blockchain technology becomes an integral part of everyday digital experiences, often without users even realizing it. They hope to see more experimentation and practical applications of blockchain technology beyond speculative assets.

Cheng shares this vision:

"At a very high level, I hope in five years there are billions of people that are indirectly benefiting from the technology we're building. Barches and crypto, whatever you want to call it, Web3. It doesn't make sense for the general public to be even be aware of what the blockchain network they're using."

This vision aligns with Sui's focus on improving user experience and lowering barriers to entry for both developers and end-users.

The Importance of Sustainable Validator Economics

While Sui requires relatively high-powered hardware for validators, the team emphasizes the importance of creating a sustainable economic model for validators. They argue that validator profitability should not be solely dependent on transaction fees, but should also consider other potential revenue streams.

Blackshear explains:

"So, I think that's one of the most important things that I think is really, really important is that there's a lot of cases, you know, this like, knows also run RBC providers like they're the fact that you run a node, like you get access to faster reasons so like that's your business model."

This approach aims to ensure the long-term sustainability and decentralization of the Sui network.

Sui's Approach to Blockchain Interoperability

While Sui focuses on providing a comprehensive platform that can handle a wide range of use cases, the team recognizes the reality of a multi-chain ecosystem. Their approach to interoperability focuses on making it as seamless as possible for users to interact with assets and applications on Sui, regardless of their origin.

This philosophy is reflected in features like ZK Login, which allows users to interact with Sui applications using their existing Web2 accounts, potentially bridging the gap between traditional internet services and blockchain applications.

The Role of Move in Sui's Security Model

The Move programming language plays a crucial role in Sui's security model. By providing built-in safety features and a resource-oriented programming model, Move aims to prevent common vulnerabilities that have plagued other smart contract platforms.

Blackshear emphasizes the importance of this approach:

"Your arguments have to be based on foundations and they have to be based on pure problems with existing languages that my language or my platform can just take off the table period for developers and like so if an example of a problem that's going to happen in the world, it's going to be a problem."

This focus on security at the language level aims to create a more robust and reliable platform for developing blockchain applications.

Sui's Strategy for Mainstream Adoption

Sui's strategy for achieving mainstream adoption focuses on removing barriers to entry for both developers and users. This includes simplifying the development process, improving user experience, and enabling familiar interaction patterns through features like ZK Login.

Cheng explains this approach:

"We point to the product experience, all products are able to shoot. And that's how, you know, you might be in a lot of way winning the battle right now."

By making blockchain technology more accessible and user-friendly, Sui aims to accelerate the adoption of Web3 applications across various industries.

The Importance of Experimentation in Blockchain Development

The Sui team emphasizes the importance of enabling easy experimentation with blockchain technology. They argue that many groundbreaking applications and use cases will emerge through trial and error, rather than from predetermined ideas about what blockchain is good for.

Blackshear shares this perspective:

"I think great things get built. Usually not by someone known, especially with new technology, not someone knowing, like, this is exactly what this is good for. But by trying a thousand things and seeing what sticks and what doesn't."

This philosophy is reflected in Sui's design choices, which aim to make it easier for developers to integrate blockchain elements into their applications without requiring a complete pivot to a blockchain-centric model.

Facts + Figures

• Sui was founded in November 2021 by Sam Blackshear and Evan Cheng, former members of Facebook's Libra team.
• Move, the programming language used in Sui, was created by Sam Blackshear during his time at Facebook.
• Sui uses an object-oriented data model, different from the account-based models used in Ethereum and Solana.
• Sui can process certain transactions with a latency as low as 400 milliseconds.
• Running a Sui validator costs approximately $750 per month and requires a stake of 20 million SUI tokens.
• Sui's storage costs are claimed to be 100 times cheaper than Solana's.
• 19% of transactions on Sui currently take the "fast path" that bypasses full consensus.
• Sui implements features like ZK Login and sponsored transactions at the protocol level.
• The Sui team sees gaming and commerce as key initial markets for their platform.
• Sui aims to enable billions of people to benefit from blockchain technology within the next five years, often without them being aware of the underlying technology.

Questions Answered

What is Move and why was it created?

Move is a programming language specifically designed for smart contract development on blockchain platforms. It was created by Sam Blackshear while working on the Libra project at Facebook. Move was developed to address the specific needs of smart contract programming, focusing on creating, transferring, and sharing digital assets with built-in safety features and access control mechanisms. This specialized focus allows Move to provide safer and more intuitive abstractions for smart contract development compared to adapting general-purpose languages or virtual machines.

How does Sui achieve low latency?

Sui achieves low latency through its unique consensus mechanism, which includes a "fast path" for certain types of transactions. This fast path allows transactions like simple transfers to bypass full consensus, significantly reducing processing time. Sui can process these fast-path transactions with latencies as low as 400 milliseconds. Additionally, Sui's object-oriented data model allows for efficient parallel execution of transactions, further reducing overall latency. This low-latency capability is crucial for enabling real-time applications, particularly in gaming and payment systems.

What are the main differences between Sui and other Move-based blockchains like Aptos?

While both Sui and Aptos use the Move programming language, Sui differentiates itself through its focus on developer and user experience. Key features that set Sui apart include ZK Login, which allows users to interact with Sui applications using their existing Web2 accounts, and sponsored transactions, which enable developers to cover gas fees for their users. Sui also implements several standards at the protocol level, such as royalty enforcement for NFTs and controlled tokens for loyalty programs. These features are designed to make it easier for developers to create accessible applications and reach a broader audience.

How does Sui handle state growth and storage scalability?

Sui takes a unique approach to state growth and storage scalability. Unlike some blockchain systems that aim to limit state growth, Sui embraces it, focusing instead on making storage cheap and efficient. The platform leverages conventional database technologies and allows for easy provisioning of additional storage as needed. This approach eliminates the need for complex global authenticated data structures, making state management more straightforward and cost-effective. Sui claims that its storage costs are 100 times cheaper than Solana's, allowing for more efficient handling of large-scale data.

What is Sui's vision for the future of blockchain technology?

Sui's vision for the future of blockchain technology focuses on making it an integral part of everyday digital experiences, often without users even realizing it. The team hopes to see blockchain technology benefit billions of people within the next five years, with a focus on practical applications beyond speculative assets. They emphasize the importance of enabling easy experimentation with blockchain technology, allowing developers to integrate blockchain elements into their applications without requiring a complete pivot to a blockchain-centric model. This vision aligns with Sui's focus on improving user experience and lowering barriers to entry for both developers and end-users.