Grayscale backs Sui as network pushes for expansion with free stablecoin transfers

Grayscale has declared a bullish future for Sui and its Staking ETF (ticker: GSUI), which gives both institutional and retail investors a more regulated way to gain exposure to the Sui network. 

Grayscale’s backing comes just two days after the Sui blockchain removed gas fees for stablecoin transfers. Sui is one of the core assets, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, that Grayscale offers in its growing portfolio of crypto products.

Grayscale continues its strategy of backing blockchain networks that are ready for widespread institutional adoption. The asset manager’s track record includes building dedicated products for projects like BTC, ETH, Solana, and others when it identified sufficiently bullish conditions. 

What exactly is the GSUI ETF?

According to the fund’s X announcement, while the Grayscale Sui Staking ETF works like an exchange-traded product, it’s not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. This means that the GSUI ETF does not provide the same level of regulatory oversight and investor protections that standard ETFs or mutual funds do, which is something all investors should consider carefully before buying in.

Grayscale noted the importance of Sui’s new payment capabilities in its declaration. “Stablecoins are becoming core financial infrastructure,” the firm wrote on X. “The networks that remove friction win. We believe $SUI just removed one of the biggest ones.”

Having previously backed major assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, as Cryptopolitan reported, Grayscale has now identified Sui as a top contender for attracting future institutional capital once US crypto legislation passes, placing it in the same conversations as other high-potential networks like BNB Chain and Canton Network. 

Free stablecoin transfers go live on mainnet

The “friction” Grayscale was referring to is gas fees. On Thursday, May 21, Sui Network confirmed that they eliminated that issue by launching fully gasless stablecoin transfers on their mainnet, eliminating all transfer costs for supported tokens, including USDC, FDUSD, USDSui, and several others.

Mysten Labs co-founder Adeniyi Abiodun (whose team originally built Sui) called the update a step toward making the network “the global rail for payments.” The new feature will be a permanent, protocol-wide change, according to a press release this Wednesday.

Fireblocks (a digital asset infrastructure provider that has processed over $14 trillion in transactions) was also one of the first to integrate support for the gasless transfers before it was deployed. 

Ran Goldi, SVP of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, stated that Sui was “making all the right moves” by removing “a major point of friction for enterprises building onchain payment flows.”

Sui’s reputation is on the rise in the stablecoin and DeFi space

The Sui network has handled some significant activity recently, hitting a major milestone by processing over $1 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume since August 2025, according to Abiodun’s remarks at Consensus 2026. 

Latest data from DefiLlama also shows Sui holding roughly $570 million in total value locked (TVL) across its DeFi protocols, with a stablecoin market cap of about $582 million.

According to CoinMarketCap, the SUI token is currently trading around $1.03, which is far below its January 2025 all-time high of $5.35. 

Institutional products multiply

GSUI is not the only investment product focused on SUI. Four SUI-linked products from 21Shares, Grayscale, and Canary Capital have already launched globally in 2026. CME Group will also list SUI futures on May 29, giving professional traders access to regulated derivatives on one of the largest regulated exchanges in the United States.

That institutional infrastructure is arriving alongside protocol upgrades, apart from payments. Abiodun also shared that Sui would launch confidential transactions this year and is testing post-quantum cryptographic signatures on its testnet, targeting deployment ahead of EU quantum-resistance mandates expected by 2030.

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