Sui Group steers crypto treasuries toward stablecoins and active DeFi income Sui Group Holdings (SUIG) — the only Nasdaq-listed firm with an official tie to the Sui Foundation — is shifting from a traditional crypto treasury play into an operating business built around SUI, yield generation and Sui-native DeFi, the company’s CIO Steven Mackintosh told CoinDesk. Background and strategic pivot - Formerly Mill City Ventures, the U.S.-based specialty finance firm rebranded to Sui Group Holdings in 2025 and refocused on a foundation-backed digital asset treasury (DAT) strategy centered on SUI, the native token of the Sui network. - While the company still invests in and advises public and private companies, Mackintosh says the priority is clear: accumulate SUI and build recurring-yield infrastructure for shareholders. “Our performance is always going to be correlated to the price of SUI,” he said. “The goal is to be the most innovative DAT in the market by embedding ourselves directly into the Sui ecosystem.” Balance sheet and token exposure - Sui Group holds roughly 108 million SUI (about $160 million), representing just under 3% of circulating supply. The near-term target is to reach 5% of the float, a milestone Mackintosh described as very important for the firm’s market positioning. - The company has increased its SUI-per-share metric (analogous to ether-per-share) from 1.14 to 1.34. - In a PIPE executed when SUI traded near $4.20, the treasury was valued around $400–450 million. Sui Group raised about $450 million but deliberately kept ~$60 million in reserve to manage market risk and avoid forced token sales during volatility. - Digital assets are custodied and managed by Galaxy Digital (GLXY). From passive treasury to an operating model Sui Group is moving beyond buying and staking SUI into active product and revenue generation. The centerpiece: SuiUSDE — a native, yield-bearing stablecoin developed in partnership with the Sui Foundation and Ethena. The stablecoin is expected to go live in February (following ongoing testing), and Sui Group is among the first to white-label Ethena’s technology on a non-Ethereum network. Key features and economics of SuiUSDE - SuiUSDE aims to be a crypto-native synthetic dollar on Sui, capturing users who prefer stablecoins to altcoins. “Wall Street understands stablecoins far better than altcoins,” Mackintosh said. - 90% of fees generated by SuiUSDE will flow back to Sui Group and the Sui Foundation. Revenues will be used either to buy back SUI in the open market or redeploy into Sui-native DeFi. - Planned use cases include DeepBook, Bluefin, Navi, Cetus (DEX), and broader collateral roles across the Sui ecosystem. - Sui Group hopes to attract the yield-hungry DeFi community that helped Ethena grow on Ethereum; the company is also in discussions with protocols like Pendle. Why Ethena matters Ethena’s approach on Ethereum centers on USDe, a synthetic dollar that keeps a 1:1 peg using delta-neutral hedging with crypto collateral and derivatives rather than fiat reserves. By porting that architecture to Sui via SuiUSDE, Sui Group aims to bring a similar native-dollar infrastructure to the network. Revenue diversification: perps DEX and more - Sui Group has a revenue-sharing deal with Bluefin, Sui’s leading perpetuals DEX, granting the company a fixed percentage of trading fees and creating recurring operating income. “Perps are the killer use case in crypto,” Mackintosh said. - Two more ecosystem partnership deals are in the pipeline. Yield, supply dynamics and long-term thesis - SUI’s base staking yield is roughly 2.2%. Sui’s 10 billion fixed supply and a fee-burn mechanism give the token a structurally deflationary design, Mackintosh argues, contrasting it with inflationary models like Solana or Ethereum. - If Sui Group can push effective shareholder yield to around 6% through operating revenues, Mackintosh believes SUI-per-share could grow materially over the next five years, even before token price appreciation. “The combination of deflation and higher yield gives us a very compelling long-term setup,” he said. Risk management and contrast with other DATs - Sui Group highlights its conservative execution compared with peers that have been forced into token sales or complex convertible structures during downturns. The firm recently bought back 8.8% of its own shares and still holds about $22 million in cash, providing flexibility. - Mackintosh emphasized discipline: “We’ve been patient, we’ve used cash effectively and we haven’t chased financial engineering. That discipline matters in this market.” What’s next Heading into 2026, Sui Group’s stated mission is singular: become the central economic actor in the Sui ecosystem and offer public-market investors a cleaner, yield-oriented route to participate in Sui’s growth — through token accumulation, a native stablecoin, DEX revenue and other Sui-native operating assets. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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