5 Red-Hot DeFi Apps on Sui
Last week, we broke down a litany of bullish catalysts behind Sui’s swelling momentum. Just as excitement was building, however, the Sui ecosystem was rocked by the $260M exploit of Cetus – its leading liquidity provider.
Despite this setback, for those betting on the network’s potential, opportunity abounds. With validators working to recover stolen spoils and the Sui Foundation stepping in with a loan to cover the remainder, Cetus users will soon be made whole and better days could lie ahead for the network…
Today, we’re diving deeper into the alt L1, exploring red-hot protocols reshaping Sui with juicy yields and first-mover rewards for early adopters.
Here are the top 5 DeFi deposit opportunities we’re tracking on Sui. 👇
🐟 Nemo Protocol
Twitter | Website
Category: Yield
About:
Just like Pendle – a widely popular yield swapping application on top EVM networks – Nemo is a Sui-native platform that enables users to split yield-bearing tokens into principal (PT) and yield (YT) components. PTs can be redeemed for a vault’s underlying tokens at maturity and YTs accrue all returns generated from the underlying until vault maturity.
Vault depositors can provide liquidity to earn swap fees while maintaining crypto exposure while accessing future yields by selling their YTs. Alternatively, Nemo speculators can leverage their yield exposure by purchasing YTs, and risk-averse users can purchase PTs to lock in guaranteed fixed returns on crypto assets for a defined period of time (i.e.; until maturity).
Nemo has an ongoing points program that rewards protocol users with non-transferable points, which will serve as a proof of engagement for future airdrops. Points are distributed every 24 hours and can be earned by depositing liquidity, holding PT/YT tokens, and trading on the Nemo Protocol.
How to Use:
Earn double-digit APYs by providing liquidity for select SUI, ETH, and USD deposit opportunities with incentives, leverage variable yield exposure with YTs, or lock in guaranteed fixed yields with PTs.
- Provide liquidity by clicking “+POOL APY”
- Leverage variable yields by clicking “YT”
- Receive fixed yields by “PT”
💨 Momentum
Twitter | Website
Category: Exchange
About:
Momentum is the fastest growing decentralized exchange on Sui; the protocol has seen its TVL increase by 220% over the past month off the back of its “bricks” airdrop rewards program (detailed below), which explicitly promises tokens for early users.
The Momentum Building Program, which began on April 28, rewards users with “bricks” for trading, providing liquidity, and referring others to Momentum. Momentum’s blog indicates that brick holders will receive fungible tokens (which confer protocol voting rights and accrue yield) at a future date.
How to Use:
Referring others to Momentum, providing liquidity to earn yield, or using the exchange to swap between assets on Sui will yield “brick” airdrop rewards.
- Refer others to Momentum (connect wallet, then click “Start Earning”)
- Provide liquidity to Momentum
- Swap assets with Momentum
🌋 Magma Finance
Twitter | Website
Category: Exchange
About:
Essentially the Aerodrome of Sui, Magma Finance employs ve(3,3) tokenomics, incentivizing its users to lock MAGMA for veMAGMA to receive voting rights and a share of protocol fees. Liquidity providers receive MAGMA tokens as rewards, which can be sold for profit or locked to participate in governance.
While Magma’s veTokenomic functionality is not yet live, the protocol’s website claims token voting, veMAGMA locking, and incentives are “coming soon,” meanwhile, protocol documentation indicated these features could be expected in early March.
At this time, Magma liquidity providers earn platform fees and MAGMA token rewards, which can be used to participate in governance once requisite functionality is eventually deployed.
How to Use:
Conduct Sui-native swaps through Magma Finance or receive MAGMA tokens and yield by providing liquidity.
- Swap assets with Magma Finance
- Provide liquidity to Magma Finance
🏦 Suilend
Twitter | Website
Category: Money Market, Exchange
About:
With $700M in TVL at the time of this analysis, Suilend ranks as the largest application on Sui.
This lending protocol was developed by the same team behind Save Finance (f.k.a. Solend), a leading lending application on Solana. By launching on Sui, the Suilend team successfully leveraged its successful track record on Solana to establish itself as the predominant money market for the emerging chain.
Protocol-imposed borrow fees on Suilend were reduced to 0% on May 8, and platform engagements through May will qualify users for Season 2 of the SEND airdrop. Additionally, in the aftermath of the Cetus exploit, Suilend announced that it would provide $1M of incentives for depositors in eligible STEAMM pools.
How to Use:
Position for Season 2 of the SEND airdrop by lending/borrowing with eligible Suilend vaults or receive STEAMM points by swapping Sui-native tokens through the STEAMM exchange.
- Lend/borrow crypto tokens with Suilend
- Deposit into Suilend STEAMM LP pools
- Swap assets with Suilend’s STEAMM exchange
🌊 Kai Finance
Twitter | Website
Category: Leveraged Farming
About:
Kai Finance is a yield farming platform that provides depositors with two distinct vaults to harvest returns on Sui. Funds in Kai’s “Single Asset Vaults” provide liquidity for “Leveraged LP Vaults,” which return triple-digit APRs by looping DEX liquidity provider deposits by up to 11x.
While this protocol does not currently have plans to launch a token, the FAQ section of Kai’s documentation indicates that the team will “start considering it” after achieving $100M in TVL; the metric was reading $28M at the time of this analysis.
Although Kai Finance exposed depositors to losses via composition with Cetus (a recently exploited DEX), the team promptly responded by outlining a redemption process for impacted vaults and launching new isolated vaults that shield depositors from previous losses.
How to Use:
Position for a potential airdrop and juice your yields by depositing Sui-native tokens into Kai Finance.