Exploration of Sui's Preeminent Decentralized Finance Lending Protocol
Suilend, a groundbreaking decentralized lending and borrowing protocol, made its debut on the Sui blockchain in March 2024. Launched as the first expansion of the Solend team outside Solana, Suilend aims to bring Solend's expertise in DeFi lending to the Sui ecosystem.
The protocol's native token, SEND, was introduced in December 2024. The total supply of SEND is fixed at 100 million tokens, with 65% allocated to the community, 20% to early investors, and 15% to the founding team.
One of Suilend's innovative features is its fee-sharing model, which plans to distribute a portion of the protocol's revenue to token holders. This could create a powerful value accrual model for SEND, attracting a growing community of investors and users.
The pseudonymous founder of Suilend is known as "Rooter", and the core team hails from Solend. The protocol's technical architecture uses a pool-based lending model with on-chain objects to track markets, deposits, and loans.
Suilend's Mdrop distribution model was used for its token launch. This approach involved a vesting voucher, with eligible users receiving an allocation that could be redeemed for mSEND tokens. By late 2024, Suilend had become the largest lending platform on Sui, boasting nearly $470 million TVL (Total Value Locked) and significant monthly revenue.
mSEND acts as a time-locked token voucher, with holders able to convert mSEND into actual SEND. However, converting early incurs a penalty fee in SUI$3.21. The penalty for conversion decreases linearly over time, with different decay periods for community rewards, investor/team allocations, and Solana Save holders allocations.
Suilend has also introduced special Capsule NFTs for community contributors. These NFTs carry hidden benefits revealed at token launch and likely provide extra token rewards.
By early 2025, Suilend was generating about $16 million annualized revenue from its lending operations. The revenue comes from interest rate spreads and fees, with potential sources including Suilend's lending operations and the STEAMM AMM.
Looking ahead, Suilend's innovative team is positioned to evolve beyond traditional lending, potentially integrating new revenue streams like a perpetual exchange and launchpad. SEND holders will govern the upcoming Suilend DAO, with the ability to propose and vote on protocol changes such as adjusting interest rate models, adding new collateral types, or treasury allocations.
As of now, Suilend has raised $6 million in total to fund development, with investments from major blockchain investors and prominent angels. The platform currently boasts over 50,000 monthly active wallets.
In conclusion, Suilend is a promising addition to the Sui blockchain, offering a secure, efficient, and user-friendly platform for decentralized lending and borrowing. Its innovative features, such as the fee-sharing model and the Mdrop distribution, set it apart from other DeFi protocols and position it for continued growth and success.
