- Sui rose 21 % to $2.97; Solana gained 3.5 % to $149.47.
- Raoul Pal highlights Sui’s DeFi growth, BTCfi adoption, and breakout potential.
Former Goldman Sachs strategist Raoul Pal has never hidden his enthusiasm for high-performance blockchains. This week he singled out Sui (SUI) as the up-and-coming rival to Solana (SOL). Prices tell part of the story: while SUI climbed 21 % in a single day to $ 2.97, SOL inched up 3.5 % to $ 149.47. But behind those numbers sit very different growth curves—one maturing, the other still exploding.

Raoul Pal take: momentum meets fresh infrastructure
Pal’s latest chart pits the SUI/USD line against SOL/USD. It shows Sui pressing against a year-long ceiling, hinting at a breakout. His interest isn’t just technical; it’s rooted in the chain’s architecture. Sui’s Move-based smart-contract language and low-latency consensus are purpose-built for the kind of trading activity DeFi thrives on. In Pal’s words, Sui is the “favored child” because its design gives it “room to run” before congestion becomes a talking point—something Solana knows all too well.
Where the data backs the buzz
Numbers from on-chain analytics paint the same picture:
- $ 6 billion in DeFi trading volume coursed through Sui over the past month, enough to place it sixth among all chains.
- BTCfi—Bitcoin staking and lending on Sui—already accounts for 10 % of the chain’s total value locked.
- After a mid-March incentive program, daily active wallets doubled, and fee revenue has stayed elevated even after rewards tapered off.
Solana is still the deeper market, especially for derivatives liquidity, but its growth rate has settled into a steadier, more predictable march. Sui is in the acceleration phase, where every milestone feels outsized.
Raoul Pal: Checklist for Sui’s Strength and Solana’s Challenge
If history is any guide, assets that widen the performance gap during sideways markets often lead when sentiment flips risk-on. That’s why analysts such as Michaël van de Poppe say “money will flow back into the ones that have shown strength.” For Sui, the checklist is straightforward:
- Hold support above the recently reclaimed $ 2.40 band.
- Keep DeFi TVL trending toward $ 1 billion without relying solely on incentives.
- Demonstrate network stability when the next hype-driven mint clogs the pipes.
Solana, meanwhile, may keep its role as the established alternative to Ethereum, but an agile competitor that can scale early may siphon off the fast-moving segment of users chasing yields and a smoother experience.
conclusion
Raoul Pal’s endorsement puts Sui on every macro-investor’s radar, yet the chain’s own metrics give the praise substance. Rapid DeFi growth, early traction in Bitcoin staking, and resilient price action suggest Sui is graduating from newcomer to serious contender. Solana isn’t losing ground so much as watching a younger network trace the same arc—only faster. For traders weighing exposure before the next crypto upswing, the question is no longer whether Sui deserves a slot on the watchlist, but how much room to give it.
Disclaimer
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