Sui Network is about to flip the switch on something most Layer-1 blockchains have avoided: built-in transaction privacy. Co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun announced on May 22 that private transactions are coming to Sui’s mainnet, with a particular focus on making stablecoin transfers confidential by default.
The market responded with enthusiasm. SUI’s token price jumped more than 20% immediately following the announcement.
What Sui is actually building
Private transactions on Sui will be a native, protocol-level feature. Privacy won’t be a third-party add-on or something you opt into through a separate app. It will be baked directly into the network’s architecture.
The initial focus is on stablecoins. Sui already supports gasless stablecoin transfers, meaning users can send stablecoins without holding the native SUI token to pay for transaction fees. Adding privacy on top of that gasless infrastructure creates a compelling stack for payments.
Rather than requiring users to actively choose privacy, Sui plans to make confidentiality the standard setting.
Sui’s trajectory and scale
Sui’s mainnet launched on May 3, 2023, built by Mysten Labs, a team with roots in Meta’s defunct Diem project. The network uses the Move programming language and an object-centric data model, both designed to enable high throughput and parallel transaction processing.
As of August 2025, Sui had processed over $1 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume. The privacy rollout is planned for 2026. Sui’s team says the privacy features will remain compliant with regulatory frameworks.
What this means for investors
Most major Layer-1 blockchains, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, don’t offer native privacy at the protocol level. Privacy has traditionally been the domain of specialized chains like Monero and Zcash, which have faced delistings from major exchanges and regulatory scrutiny as a result.
Zcash has offered shielded transactions for years, yet the vast majority of Zcash transactions remain transparent because users don’t bother opting in. Sui’s default-on approach theoretically solves that adoption problem, but it also means the privacy system needs to work flawlessly from day one across every wallet and exchange integration.
For traders watching the SUI token, the key metric to track will be stablecoin volume growth on the network once private transactions go live.