Sui DEX Momentum Teases Expansion Plans After Hitting $100 Million in Daily Volume

Daily trading volume on Momentum Finance, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, has surpassed $100 million.

As of press time, Momentum’s total value locked stands at $156.4 million, ranking it as the sixth-largest protocol and the largest DEX on the Sui network, according to data from DefiLlama. Sui’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has also continued to expand, with total TVL reaching $2.26 billion and the stablecoin market cap surpassing $1 billion.

In a press release shared with The Defiant, Momentum noted that its TVL first crossed the $100 million mark on June 26, and its daily swap volume reached the same milestone less than a month later.

Momentum’s team told The Defiant that the rebound reflects the resilience of the Sui network and the ability of infrastructure players to respond quickly.

Founder Wendy Fu said the exchange experienced sharp growth following its March 31 launch, adding that trading volume jumped by more than 1.2 million percent — from about $7,000 in late March to over $90 million by late April — as new users entered the Sui ecosystem. Fu pointed out that Momentum focused on “attracting fresh liquidity from outside the Sui ecosystem - rather than cannibalizing what was already circulating within it.”

Cetus Exploit

The growth follows a major security breach in May that targeted Cetus Protocol, a competing DEX on Sui. The attackers exploited a mathematical error in the project’s smart contract code, resulting in a loss of approximately $260 million in cryptocurrency.

The team later froze around $160 million of the stolen funds and promised to return the money to liquidity providers once a forensic investigation is complete.

Commenting on that incident, Fu said the exploit was a “pivotal moment for the entire Sui ecosystem. We dropped from $67M TVL to $42M overnight after reopening our DEX.”

To address user concerns, Momentum coordinated with the Sui Foundation and Mysten Labs to “reinforce security across the board, initiated additional audits, and implemented new protocol-level safeguards.” Following the upgrade, Fu claims the exchange’s TVL recovered “in just five days.”

Expanding Beyond Sui

Momentum uses the ve(3,3) model, which aims to balance incentives for liquidity providers and future MMT governance token holders. The team says this mechanism helps ensure consistent liquidity by aligning incentives around active price ranges.

Fu told The Defiant that the DEX isn't ruling out the idea of expanding beyond the Sui ecosystem, though a specific timeline wasn’t revealed.

In comments to The Defiant, Fu said "we will support assets beyond native assets on Sui, and not saying we completely eliminate the possibility of launching on other chains in the future." Momentum's founder also noted specifically that the project has "no current plans to go on Base," and added more broadly that the firm is focused on high-performance infra for better user experience:

The team is now collaborating with the Wormhole cross-chain bridge to facilitate the integration of EVM and Solana-based protocols onto Sui using the upcoming NTT bridge. Despite those plans, Fu emphasized that Momentum is “fully committed to making Sui the best entry point for sustainable on-chain liquidity.”

Disclaimer: This article has been edited to update a quote from Momentum founder Wendy Fu on the DEX's potential expansion beyond Sui.