The Sui (SUI) token has witnessed remarkable growth, surging over 120% in the past month to reach a trading price of $2.25 as of 10:13 am UTC on October 14. However, this price rally has been overshadowed by serious allegations of insider selling that have surfaced within the cryptocurrency community. Pseudonymous crypto analyst Light highlighted activity on X regarding wallets connected to the SUI initial coin offering (ICO), indicating that these wallets have offloaded more than $400 million worth of tokens throughout this impressive rally.
According to Light, insiders—including a significant wallet associated with the Sui foundation—are reportedly selling off varying amounts of tokens at lower price points and have increased their selling activity as the token’s value rises. Such extensive selling by insiders can create increased downward pressure on the token's market price. Further complicating the outlook for the Sui token, an additional selling wave is anticipated soon.
On October 23, a significant amount of Sui tokens valued at $114 million—equating to 2.32% of the total circulating supply—will be unlocked. Data from Token Unlocks reveals that more than 28% of the total SUI token supply is currently in an unlocked state. Within this total, 14% was designated for investors, 10% for the Mysten Labs Treasury, and 50% allocated to community reserves, as outlined by Coincarp’s findings. The ongoing trend of selling by insiders is raising red flags for prospective investors.
Light pointed out that the consistent offloading of tokens by individuals heavily involved in building the ecosystem—who are arguably best informed about the intrinsic value of the token—could spell trouble for naive buyers who are merely pursuing momentum in trading. Yet, amid these unsettling developments, the SUI token has demonstrated robust growth, boasting an increase of over 164% year-to-date.
Some analysts, particularly those from crypto research firm K33, have suggested that the Sui Network could potentially position itself as a formidable adversary to Solana, potentially emerging as a prominent Layer-1 blockchain going forward..