Sui creator says crypto’s 'ChatGPT moment' coming as protocol celebrates mainnet's first year

After a busy 12 months that included launching on mainnet and the announcement of fresh partnerships with TikTok parent ByteDance and Google, Mysten Labs, creator of the Layer 1 Sui SUI +2.39% protocol, is confident that blockchain tech is about turn the proverbial corner.

“The killer app for web3 is coming. The ChatGPT moment is coming soon,” Evan Cheng, CEO and co-founder of Mysten Labs told The Block, adding the current bull run is coinciding with web2 tech giants expressing more interest in blockchain than before. “We’re seeing a lot of interest from more established companies … companies that previously hadn’t done anything in the space are coming in.”

Mysten Labs's recently announced “ecosystem partnerships” include striking agreements with both Alibaba Cloud and Google Cloud, each centered around bolstering security and scalability, the company said. BytePlus, the tech division of TikTok parent ByteDance, also recently partnered with Cheng's company in order to develop a diverse slate of initiatives that includs web3 gaming, SocialFi, recommendation solutions and augmented reality products, Mysten Labs said in a blog post.

When questioned why big, centralized tech firms like Google and Bytedance would be interested in DeFi applications, Cheng said these companies have to commit to perpetual innovation. “They’re not just doing it for publicity … they’re actively looking into web3 and working with us,” he said. “Maybe [decentralization] is not immediately a threat to their business model, but this way great companies last longer than companies that rest on their laurels.”

Exactly one year since Sui launched on mainnet, Cheng, who helped build the blockchain, is clearly one of its biggest advocates and privy to believe the protocol stands head and shoulders above others. While it's far from a leader in terms of total locked value, Sui has made some headway in the past 12 months, at one point, breaking into the TVL top 10 only a few months after the mainnet launched, according to Mysten Labs.

It has since slipped to thirteenth on that list behind protocols like Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche, according to DeFiLlama.

Total value locked rankings among blockchains. Image: DeFiLlama

Intense competition among blockchains

While Sui could eventually prove to be one of the most-used and highest performing blockchains, it faces stiff competition from all sides, according to The Block Research Director Steven Zheng. 

“Compared to its cousin blockchain, Aptos APT +1.32% , Sui has been able to garner a lot more economic activity through TVL and on-chain trading volumes,” said Zheng. “On the visibility side, however, in my opinion Aptos seems to be grabbing a lot of marketing and visibility mindshare.”

The reason Sui and Aptos are often compared to one another is because they both utilize the Move programming language and are blockchains created by former Meta employees. All five of Mysten Labs's founders previously worked on Meta’s crypto initiatives, and Aptos Labs was co-founded by former Meta engineer Avery Ching.

Competition among Layer 1 blockchains like Sui will likely be heated for some time as the protocols vie to be essential to the web3 era. Thus far, Cheng said he feels good about Sui’s growth during the past year.

“We're pretty healthy right now, if you look in DeFi, in particular, we're consistently in the top ten … in terms of transaction volume, he said. “And that's a real thing cause a lot of other metrics you can cheat, but actual transaction volume is real.”

Initially after the mainnet launch the SUI token lost more than half its value in about a month before recovering substantially at the beginning of this year when the price more than doubled at about $2. As of today the token was changing hands at slightly more than $1, according to The Block Price Page.

Sui price action since launch of mainnet. Image: The Block Price Page.