From Solana to Sui: A Strategic Migration
Scallop, the decentralized finance protocol, has established itself as a core component of the Sui blockchain ecosystem. According to recent data from Messari, the platform now holds over $102 million in total value locked, which is quite substantial for a relatively new blockchain. The protocol has generated about $6 million in cumulative revenue as of September 2025, showing that it’s not just about locked value but actual usage.
What’s interesting is that Scallop didn’t start on Sui. The project was originally built for Solana back in 2021 by founders Kris Lai and Donnie Chen. Their decision to pivot to Sui seems to have been a smart move, allowing them to become early adopters in Sui’s growing DeFi space. The team, which spans across the Asia-Pacific region, includes people with backgrounds in DeFi, cybersecurity, and quantitative trading.
Technical Advantages and Developer Tools
The migration to Sui gave Scallop access to some unique technical features. Programmable Transaction Blocks, or PTBs as they call them, let users execute multiple operations in a single transaction. This apparently reduces gas costs and improves efficiency, which is always welcome in DeFi. They’ve also built something called Scallop Tools, which is basically a user interface that lets developers create custom PTBs directly on their platform. That could be quite useful for building more complex DeFi applications.
Strong Institutional Backing and Partnerships
Scallop has managed to attract some serious investment from major firms like CMS Holdings, 6th Man Ventures, DWF Labs, and UOB Venture Management. They also got support from well-known angel investors in the crypto space. But perhaps more importantly, they’ve developed a close relationship with the Sui Foundation and Mysten Labs, who are the main developers behind the Sui blockchain.
This partnership seems to be more than just casual. In January 2023, Scallop became the first DeFi protocol to receive a grant from the Sui Foundation. Then in October 2024, they secured a strategic investment from the foundation to expand their DeFi offerings and help with ecosystem adoption. That kind of backing from the core development team suggests they see real potential in what Scallop is building.
Token Economics and Long-Term Confidence
The SCA token serves both utility and governance purposes within the ecosystem. With a total supply of 250 million tokens, the distribution includes allocations for liquidity mining, investors, and team contributors. What caught my attention is the token locking situation – over 50 million SCA tokens are currently locked in the protocol. That represents 20% of the total supply and 40% of the circulating supply.
The average lock-up duration is 3.7 years, which is quite long in crypto terms. Users who lock their tokens receive vote-escrow SCA (veSCA), which gives them governance rights, boosted rewards, and a share of platform revenue. Kris Lai, the CEO, made a good point about this: “We’re in a down market, but our users are still locking up 20% of supply for almost four years. That’s not speculation. That’s conviction.”
Scallop actually reached a peak TVL of $195 million in late 2024 and has maintained liquidity near that level. Their veSCA model seems to be working well for driving user engagement and protocol stability by aligning incentives with long-term participation rather than short-term speculation. It’s a model that other DeFi protocols might want to study, especially given the current market conditions where sustainable growth matters more than quick pumps.
