In a recent post on X, Justin Bons—the founder and CIO of Cyber Capital, Europe’s oldest cryptocurrency fund—raised serious concerns about the Sui Network (SUI) project’s tokenomics. Bons, a full-time crypto researcher since 2014, claims that the project’s token distribution is marred by centralization, lack of disclosure, and “unbridled greed.”
According to Bons, SUI claims to have a capped supply of 10 billion tokens, with 52% being “unallocated” until 2030. However, he points out that over 8 billion SUI tokens are currently being staked, with founders holding an alarming 84% of the staked supply.
SUI Supply and Total Stake. Source: CoinMarketCap
“SUI is centralized. The founders control the MAJORITY of supply without lock-ins and ZERO legal guarantees!”
– Justin Bons
Cyber Capital’s CIO accuses the team of deceptive communication, stating that “the legal fine print protects them, as the truth is sobering.” He claims that the chart published by the SUI Foundation is “a lie,” as the staked SUI implies no lock-in period at all. Moreover, the Foundation has refused to disclose the addresses controlling the “unallocated” supply, raising further suspicions.
Sui Network’s (SUI) alarming tokenomics
The researcher also highlights the substantial amounts of SUI tokens allocated to various entities, including 160 million to Mysten Labs (SUI’s for-profit arm), 600 million to “early contributors,” and close to 1.5 billion to VCs. Additionally, over 1 billion tokens are reserved for “stake subsidies,” which Bons claims will return to the founders who already control most of the stake.
Sui Network token unlocks. Source: TokenUnlocksApp
Justin Bons criticizes the lack of a public sale, calling SUI a “100% pre-mine.” He laments the growing trend of greed in cryptocurrencies‘ tokenomics over the past few years, with SUI being one of the worst examples.
“The sheer greed of SUI’s distribution is mindblowing,” he states, emphasizing that “SUI still refuses to give full disclosure on the MAJORITY of SUI supply…”
The researcher warns of the extreme risks posed by SUI’s centralized control, as the leadership effectively controls network consensus and has the power to crash the market overnight by selling their tokens. However, Bons suggests that a more likely scenario is a gradual selling of tokens to “slowly bleed retail investors dry.”
Justin Bons’ proposed solution
Despite his strong criticism, Justin Bons acknowledges that SUI’s technology is promising, with its object-centric model and novel solution to state bloat. He proposes two potential solutions to address the tokenomics issue:
Either burn the unallocated supply or turn control over to a decentralized on-chain governance treasury.
Yet, Bons concludes his post by emphasizing that “things are rarely black & white in crypto; nothing is all good or all bad.” He describes SUI as “a permissionless and public blockchain with a predatory supply distribution, good and evil!”
Nonetheless, he believes that SUI can redeem itself if the project’s leaders surrender control of the “unallocated” supply.
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