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By ChefWEN, Founder, Momentum
When we launched Momentum on March 31, 2025, we set out to answer a simple question: what would happen if we built a DEX that prioritized bringing fresh capital into the Sui ecosystem rather than fighting over the liquidity that already existed?
Today, less than four months after launch, we’ve surpassed $22 billion in cumulative trading volume. That wasn’t our end goal—it was simply the natural outcome of aligning incentives across the entire ecosystem. And it tells us something profound about where crypto is heading: retail adoption, not institutional gatekeeping, is the future of finance.
The Cetus Moment Changed Everything
Six weeks into our launch, the Cetus protocol exploit sent shockwaves through Sui. When $260 million in assets were compromised by a smart contract vulnerability, we watched Sui’s total value locked collapse overnight. It was a gut punch.
But here’s what matters: the ecosystem didn’t give up. And neither did we.
Instead of looking for escape routes, we coordinated with the Sui Foundation and Mysten Labs to strengthen security across the board. We initiated additional audits, implemented protocol-level safeguards, and rebuilt trust. Within five days, our TVL recovered. The message was clear: a crisis can either break a community or forge it. We chose the latter.
That moment taught us that what drives sustainable growth isn’t hype or speed—it’s credibility and genuine partnership. When retail users saw that the ecosystem was willing to defend their interests, they came.
Why ve(3,3) Works for Retail
The tokenomics model we chose—ve(3,3)—was deliberate. Traditional DEX models pit stakeholders against each other. Liquidity providers want high fees. Traders want tight spreads. Protocols want volume. These incentives typically collide.
The ve(3,3) model doesn’t eliminate these tensions. It redirects them. By routing 100% of emissions, trading fees, and rewards directly to users, we created a system where everyone wins when the protocol wins. There’s no zero-sum game. There’s a flywheel.
For a retail-first ecosystem like Sui, this matters enormously. Retail traders are not margin traders playing multi-second games. They hold positions. They accumulate. And they care deeply about sustainable yield and fair treatment. The ve(3,3) model speaks to that sentiment—it says your participation genuinely matters to the protocol’s health.
Attracting Capital, Not Stealing It
Early critiques suggested that Momentum was cannibalizing liquidity from other Sui protocols. This misunderstood our strategy entirely. We deliberately built tools to attract external capital.
Through multi-sig treasury management solutions and deep integrations with ecosystem partners, we helped protocols like Agora Finance, Ondo Finance, and First Digital grow their stablecoin ecosystems on Sui. We minted 100% of the supply for AUSD, FDUSD, and USDY on Sui. We became infrastructure, not just a competing venue.
The result? Sui’s total value locked grew 1,261% in 13 months. That’s not cannibalization. That’s ecosystem expansion. The daily billion in Momentum volume came from new traders entering Sui for the first time—not existing users clicking a different DEX button.
The Retail-First Inflection Point
Here’s what I think is happening with Sui, and why the timing matters: retail is about to enter crypto at scale, and they’re going to demand something different from what existed during previous cycles.
Previous bull markets were built on speculation, leverage, and fear of missing out. This cycle is being built on utility. Bitcoin enters financial institutions via ETFs. Stablecoins become the rails for cross-border commerce. Gaming and social economies onboard millions. And all of it needs deep, liquid, reliable infrastructure at low cost.
Sui’s architecture was designed for exactly this use case. The Move language enables secure, composable smart contracts. The object-centric model creates rich on-chain assets that feel native, not bolted-on. Sub-second finality and parallel execution mean that users experience the blockchain as responsive, not congested.
When infrastructure meets adoption momentum, compound effects emerge.
What We’re Building Next
Momentum is no longer just a DEX. We’re becoming the central liquidity engine for Sui. Our partnerships with Wormhole around cross-chain asset bridging and OKX around wallets and distribution are designed to do one thing: bring billions in liquidity into Sui by providing the best technical and user experience for getting it there.
We’re building xSUI as a liquid staking solution. We’re integrating EVM and Solana-native assets onto Sui. We’re expanding beyond native assets, though we remain fully committed to making Sui the most efficient entry point for sustainable on-chain liquidity.
Could we launch on Base, or Solana, or Arbitrum? Sure. But that’s not where the opportunity is. The opportunity is in a network that was designed from first principles for this moment—where a billion people can eventually own and trade digital assets without friction, without fear, and without intermediaries.
The Real Test
The daily billion volume milestone is not success—it’s evidence of promise. Real success would be measured in a very different metric: how many people who were never in crypto before now use Sui regularly, understand what a CLMM is, and actually hold positions for months or years rather than hours.
That’s the retail-first test. That’s what we’re building toward. And from what I can see in wallet behavior, ecosystem growth, and the tenor of our community, we’re passing it.
The next cycle of crypto won’t be won by the fastest traders or the largest whales. It will be won by the platforms that trusted retail, built infrastructure they actually need, and stayed committed even when markets wavered.
We intend to keep building that infrastructure. Sui’s ecosystem is ready. And retail is coming.
About ChefWen, Founder, Momentum
Wendy Fu (ChefWen) is the founder of Momentum, the Move Central Liquidity Engine.
With a strong engineering background—including senior software engineering roles at Facebook Libra and Amazon—Wendy combines deep technical expertise with visionary leadership to build scalable, industry-shaping solutions.
Wendy holds Master degrees in Computer Engineering and Operations Research in Industrial & System Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
At Momentum, Wendy is spearheading efforts to become the central liquidity engine for the Move ecosystem with the launch of the first multi-chain ve(3,3) DEX. Currently the #1 DEX on Sui.
Her blend of high-level technical acumen, entrepreneurial drive, and cross-cultural perspective makes her a compelling speaker for audiences interested in the future of Web3, innovation, and software engineering.
About Momentum
Momentum is building the financial operating system of the tokenised world starting on Sui. Think Robinhood’s ease of use and scale, but fully decentralized and global.
In just six months, it has gone from zero to $500M in liquidity, onboarded over 2.1 million users, and hit $1.1B in daily trading volume yesterday. That makes us the #3 DEX globally, right next to Uniswap and Pancake.
Momentum is the Robinhood of the tokenised era. It is not just another DEX, it is building the platform where anyone, retail or institutional, can trade anything, anywhere, fully on-chain.
With Sui’s unique retail base, generous ecosystem incentives, and a ve(3,3) flywheel that pumps value back into $MMT with every trade, it is setting the foundation for a $10B+ protocol.
What’s happening next : Perps, Momentum X, and bridging DeFi with TradFi , a universal KYC layer that unlocks institutional liquidity like never before.
Momentum isn’t following trends , it is rewriting the playbook for global finance.