Register for SuiFest 2025: October 2 in Singapore

Sui is deflationary by design.

With a fixed supply of 10 billion tokens and a storage fund that continually takes tokens out of circulation, adoption naturally reinforces scarcity. Every transaction on Sui burns tokens, so as the network grows, more tokens are removed from circulation - steadily increasing deflationary pressure.

SUI removed from circulation
~2M SUI has been removed from circulation by being burned or frozen, about 50% of it in the last six months.
Burned SUI
Frozen SUI

A fixed supply means growth always translates into deflation

As Sui onboards more users and holders, the same fixed supply must support greater demand. Deflation is a feature, not a bug. More transactions make each token more valuable.

On top of a fixed supply, storage fees reinforce scarcity:

Non-refundable storage fees

Non-refundable storage fees are tokens permanently removed from active circulation.

Storage deposits

Deposits for mutable objects remain in the storage fund for as long as the object exists. More objects means more storage fees, and more tokens effectively removed from circulation.

Deposits for immutable objects

Because immutable objects cannot be changed or deleted, their deposits are never returned, permanently removing those tokens from circulation.

Because SUI’s supply is capped at 10 billion tokens, these dynamics create steady downward pressure on available supply. As adoption grows and the storage fund expands, this pressure increases, reinforcing SUI’s long-term value.

Deflationary impact

Aside from the refundable portion of storage deposits, SUI in the storage fund is locked indefinitely and effectively removed from active circulation (i.e. burned). This works like a siphon - the more the network is used, the more SUI is pulled out of circulation.


Storage fees reinforce scarcity in three ways:
1
Non-refundable storage fees
Permanently remove tokens from active circulation.
2
Storage deposits
Deposits for mutable objects remain locked as long as the object exists. If the object is modified to require less storage, part of the deposit is returned.
3
Deposits for immutable objects
Since immutable objects cannot be changed or deleted, their deposits are never returned, locking those tokens in the storage fund forever.
Because SUI’s supply is capped at 10 billion, these dynamics create steady downward pressure on available supply. As adoption grows and the storage fund expands, this pressure increases, reinforcing SUI’s long-term value.