Sui Today News: SUI surges 38% in January, can privacy empowerment trigger a new round of alpha market?

Entering 2026, the public chain star Sui (SUI) has performed exceptionally well. As of mid-January, SUI’s price has increased by over 38% month-to-month, reaching a high of $1.99, marking a near two-month high, with its single-day trading volume surging to $1.7 billion. Behind this strong performance is the market’s recognition of its successful absorption of a $65.1 million monthly token unlock, as well as positive expectations for spot ETF applications submitted by institutions such as Bitwise and Canary Capital.

Even more noteworthy is a recent academic paper on blockchain privacy technology published by Mysten Labs, the core development team of Sui, which has sparked market imagination about the potential integration of native privacy features into Sui. Analysts have set their medium-term target price between $2.8 and $3.5.

SUI Leads the Market: Absorbing Massive Unlocks and ETF Expectations Ignite Institutional Interest

At the start of the new year, SUI has shown a momentum of leading the pack. According to BeInCrypto market data, SUI achieved its first five consecutive days of price gains since April last year, briefly spiking to $1.99 during Asian morning trading. In just the past 24 hours, its price increased by 14.2%, topping CoinGecko’s top 100 tokens by market cap gainers. More critically, its daily trading volume skyrocketed by 91% to $1.7 billion, indicating abundant capital participation and market attention.

This rally is particularly notable because it occurred after a typical “bad news” event. On January 1, according to the scheduled monthly token unlock plan, approximately 43.69 million SUI tokens (worth about $65.1 million) were unlocked into circulation. Token unlocks usually mean an increase in circulating supply, which can exert short-term downward pressure on price. However, SUI’s price not only remained unaffected but actually moved higher against the trend. Crypto analyst Kyle Chassé pointed out that this clearly indicates strong market demand fully absorbing this additional supply, which is a very healthy bullish signal reflecting investors’ solid confidence and active buying.

Beyond technical and capital strength, signals from the traditional financial world add new narrative dimensions to SUI. Recently, well-known asset management firms Bitwise and Canary Capital submitted filings for spot SUI ETFs to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While approval remains uncertain and a long process, the symbolic significance is huge. It marks that mainstream financial institutions are beginning to see Sui as a core crypto asset worthy of developing compliant investment products. Chassé commented, “With Bitwise and Canary Capital submitting spot SUI ETF applications, ‘institutional shift’ is happening in real time.” This attention from traditional capital provides unprecedented potential incremental funding expectations for SUI.

Privacy Technology Paper Gains Unexpected Popularity, Sui Embraces a “Digital Cash” Narrative

If the strong fundamentals and ETF expectations form the foundation of SUI’s rise, then a “privacy imagination” sparked by an academic paper has given its price wings of imagination. Recently, researchers from Mysten Labs, the core creator and developer of Sui blockchain, published a systematic knowledge paper on blockchain privacy technology. The paper did not announce any upcoming products; its main purpose was to academically review existing blockchain privacy models and compare frameworks.

However, the market responded enthusiastically. The paper explicitly classifies Sui as belonging to the “account model” blockchain category alongside Ethereum and Solana, and explores how cryptographic primitives such as homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs can enable privacy features like transaction amount confidentiality, limited anonymity sets, or unlinkability between sender and receiver within such models. This inadvertently signals to the market that Sui’s core development team is seriously and systematically researching and evaluating technical paths for integrating native privacy features.

This signal hits the current market’s “itch.” Looking back to late 2025, during a period of macro pressure on the entire crypto market, traditional privacy coins like Zcash and Monero defied the trend and experienced independent upward movements. Analysts interpret this as a rotation of market funds toward “digital cash” attributes—assets designed for actual transactions rather than mere speculation, capable of privacy via zero-knowledge proofs and similar technologies while maintaining compliance. The demand for financial privacy is once again becoming a core theme.

Therefore, although Mysten Labs’ paper does not specify a timeline, investors see it as a forward-looking signal, expecting Sui to potentially become a next-generation smart contract platform that balances high performance with strong privacy. This expectation makes SUI stand out in a market where Bitcoin and Ethereum have moderate gains, forming a “narrative-driven” rally. The essence of this rally is the market pricing in a potential that has not yet been realized but holds great promise.

Technical Analysis and Market Outlook: Why Do Analysts See $3.5?

Under multiple positive catalysts, several market analysts are optimistic about SUI’s future and have set specific technical targets. From chart patterns, some analysts note that SUI previously formed a “triple bottom” at lower prices, a classic technical pattern indicating strong support and potential trend reversal. Subsequently, the price successfully broke through and stabilized above the $1.75 key resistance level, further reinforcing bullish sentiment.

Based on current trends, well-known trader CryptoBullet predicts that SUI’s upward momentum could continue, with the next key target zone set between $2.8 and $3.5. This implies a potential upside of approximately 44% to 80% from current levels. Analyst Moon Jeff’s outlook is even more ambitious, viewing SUI within the broader altcoin bull market. He considers SUI an undervalued Layer 1 blockchain, and in a favorable “altcoin season,” its market cap could surge to $30 billion. Given its current market cap of around $7.3 billion, this forecast suggests over 300% growth.

Key Price Data and Targets for SUI

Current Status:

• Latest Price: approximately $1.94
• Highest Price in January: $1.99
• Monthly Increase: > 38%
• 24-hour Trading Volume: approximately $1.7 billion
• Current Market Cap: approximately $7.3 billion

Technical Targets:

• Short-term Resistance: $2.0 (psychological level)
• Mid-term Target 1: $2.8
• Mid-term Target 2: $3.5
• Long-term Bull Market Target Market Cap: $30 billion

Recent Key Support Levels:

• Key Support: $1.75 (recent breakout level now acting as support)
• Strong Support Zone: triple bottom neckline area

Of course, all these optimistic forecasts are based on several assumptions: first, that the overall crypto market risk appetite remains stable or turns positive, providing ample liquidity for altcoins; second, that Sui’s network growth continues, including active addresses, transaction frequency, total value locked (TVL), and ecosystem application development keeping pace with price increases to avoid “air castles”; third, that progress in privacy technology research and future product deployment occurs concretely to sustain and strengthen the current narrative. Investors should be aware that after rapid rises, increased volatility is normal, and chasing highs requires extra caution.

What is Sui? Unveiling Its High-Performance Engine and Tokenomics

For many new followers, understanding what Sui is forms the basis for evaluating its value. Sui is a Layer 1 smart contract platform founded by senior members of Novi Research, a team formerly part of Meta (Facebook). Its main technical feature is the use of a proprietary Move programming language developed by Mysten Labs, and a data model centered on Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and “objects.” This design allows parallel processing of large numbers of independent transactions, theoretically achieving very high throughput and very low latency, which is why it is often compared to Solana and called the “Solana killer.”

In terms of tokenomics, SUI has a maximum supply of 10 billion tokens. Distribution includes allocations for early supporters via private and public sales; for Mysten Labs’ R&D and ecosystem funds; and a significant portion for incentivizing future validators, developers, and community contributions. The core functions of the token include paying transaction fees, participating in proof-of-stake (PoS) staking to secure the network, and serving as the governance token for the entire Sui ecosystem.

Its development roadmap focuses on scalability, security, and developer experience. The recently completed Mysticeti v2 upgrade further optimized the network’s consensus mechanism, reportedly maintaining a stable processing capacity of 866 transactions per second. Future directions include deepening the Move ecosystem, attracting more developers, and exploring frontier areas such as privacy computing, on-chain gaming, and real-world assets (RWA). The release of this privacy technology paper can be seen as a natural extension of its frontier research, aiming to build a theoretical reserve for the network’s future evolution.

Privacy Technology: The Next Battleground in Blockchain Evolution

The reason Mysten Labs’ paper has caused market ripples is that “privacy” is once again becoming a key track in blockchain technological evolution. Early privacy coins like Monero and Zcash offered strong anonymity but often sacrificed compliance, programmability, and performance, making it difficult to integrate into mainstream DeFi and commercial applications.

The current technical exploration centers on enabling more refined and optional privacy protections on account model smart contract platforms (such as Ethereum, Solana, Sui). This is not about pursuing complete anonymity but providing features like “confidential transactions” (hiding transaction amounts), “anonymous sets” (hiding specific sender/receiver within a group), and so forth. Achieving these relies on advances in zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), homomorphic encryption, and other cryptographic techniques that have made significant progress recently, reducing application costs.

The significance of this race lies in whether blockchain can truly support large-scale personal finance and commercial activities. Imagine supply chain finance, personal income, or specific business contracts—all with confidentiality needs. A public chain that can ensure transparent trustworthiness for validators while protecting trade secrets and personal privacy for the public will undoubtedly have broader application scenarios and competitive moat. Therefore, Sui’s academic layout in this field, even without immediate product delivery, demonstrates a forward-looking strategic vision to the market and developer community, which in itself is building long-term value for the ecosystem.

Operational Strategies and Risk Tips: How to Respond to the Current SUI Market?

Given SUI’s vigorous rally, how should investors respond rationally? For existing holders, the positive market sentiment and key resistance breakthroughs suggest raising stop-loss levels below $1.75 to protect profits, and observing whether the price can break through the $2.0 psychological barrier to move higher. Some positions could consider taking partial profits near $2.8 to reduce risk.

For new investors considering entering, it’s important to recognize that current prices already include optimistic premiums for ETF expectations and privacy features. Any delays or rejection news regarding ETF applications, or rumors of setbacks in privacy tech development, could trigger a price correction. Therefore, a phased, dip-buying strategy might be more prudent than chasing highs, focusing on support zones around $1.75–$1.85. In the short term, $2.0 is a key psychological and technical resistance level, and whether it can be broken warrants close attention.

The biggest risk lies in the narrative failing to materialize. If Sui’s network growth metrics (such as daily active addresses, ecosystem TVL) stagnate after price rises, or if privacy tech research remains in papers without practical deployment, the current bullish foundation will be questioned. Additionally, macro factors affecting the entire crypto market, such as liquidity tightening or regulatory waves, will impact all assets including SUI. Investors should avoid FOMO (fear of missing out) and avoid full-position bets; risk management should always be prioritized.

In summary, Sui’s explosive start in early 2026 results from a combination of fundamentals, capital, technology, and narrative. It’s not just a simple rebound but reflects the market’s reassessment of high-performance public chains and an early positioning in the “programmable privacy” future track. Its subsequent performance will serve as an important indicator of the competition landscape among public chains and the acceptance of privacy technology in the market.