Meme Goes Beyond Meme! Sui, the Veteran Meme Coin, Launches fudSUI Liquidity Staking Token.
Recently, the established meme coin FUD announced the launch of its liquidity staking token, fudSUI. The name of this token, which contains a hint of irony, has sparked discussions. However, what is perhaps more noteworthy is that a meme coin defined as “nothing” is beginning to engage in serious activities; FUD has fired the first shot, though it remains uncertain whether this will trigger a trend. Perhaps we will also see meme liquidity staking tokens such as dogeETH and bomeSOL in the future.
SpringSui Positioned as a New Standard for Liquidity Staking Tokens
The DeFi protocol Solend on Solana has established the DeFi protocol Suilend on Sui. In addition to lending, cross-chain, and trading functionalities, they have also launched the liquidity staking token SpringSui (sSui). The liquidity staking token standard may provide a more comprehensive description of SpringSui, with its technical documentation mentioning the technical differences between this token standard and its competitors.
The logic behind liquidity staking is quite straightforward; it essentially involves delegating tokens to a protocol for staking on the mainnet. PoS public chains like Ethereum and Sui typically operate this way. The sources of yield include not only the token rewards from the mainnet itself but also tokens provided by the protocol (whether these are worthless air tokens depends on the token empowerment from the protocol).
FUD has existed as a meme coin since before the recent wave of meme enthusiasm spread to Sui. Recently, they announced the launch of the liquidity staking token fudSUI, claiming it to be the first meme liquidity staking token. It is now possible to stake Sui to obtain fudSUI on the SpringSui page of Suilend; however, in reality, fudSUI merely utilizes the SpringSui token standard rather than developing its own protocol.
Is Instant Unstaking the Best Solution for Token Decoupling?
The greatest fear for liquidity staking tokens is the decoupling from the value of the staked tokens. In response, SpringSui’s solution is to activate liquidity through instant unstaking, referred to as SIP-33. But can other liquidity staking protocols not achieve instant unstaking? In fact, this is not a completely new concept; Solana’s LSTs (for example, mSOL) already have similar functionality.
However, SpringSui claims that this token standard can address liquidity issues, meaning that regardless of the circulating supply of sSUI, users can immediately convert their tokens back to the underlying Sui.
SpringSui Defaults to Instant Unstaking, Differentiating It from Competitors
Compared to its competitors, such as Haedal and Aftermath, the liquidity staking mechanisms differ. Haedal allows unstaking in two ways: one is to exchange Sui for haSui tokens within the protocol, which may involve transaction fees and slippage issues. The other is the standard unstaking process, which requires processing time that generally depends on the mainnet’s Epoch duration (usually every 24 hours).
Aftermath’s mechanism is slightly different in wording, but largely similar to Haedal. afSui holders can choose between immediate unstaking or waiting for the Epoch to end; however, the official team also provides the best trading routes found through aggregators (after all, aggregation is Aftermath’s specialty), meaning they can directly exchange afSui for Sui.
If afSui holders wish to unstake immediately, they will incur a fee of 0.91%. In comparison, waiting until the Epoch ends incurs a fee of only 0.21%. The biggest difference between SpringSui and the aforementioned competitors is its default setting for immediate unstaking, presenting a greater challenge for the protocol’s liquidity.
The Ceiling of Meme Coins: Is fudSUI a Form of Ironic Art?
However, dissecting the logic behind fudSUI, despite claiming to be the first meme liquidity staking token, it essentially just uses the SpringSui token standard and offers FUD tokens as additional annualized rewards. The name fudSUI might seem a bit ominous (or cheeky) to believers, but from another perspective, the essence of a meme coin defined as “nothing” serving as an annualized reward may ironically critique the industry’s practice of inflating annualized rewards with worthless air tokens.
