Momentum: From the core DEX of the Sui ecosystem to the next generation of financial liquidity engine

As the blockchain market matures, the speed at which institutional funds and regulated assets enter the chain is accelerating. In the past, decentralized finance (DeFi) mostly focused on the liquidity and trading of crypto assets, but now some projects are beginning to explore the extension of more comprehensive financial services. The industry generally believes that this transformation requires four conditions: smooth user experience, cross-chain liquidity integration, tokenized physical asset support, and a solid security system.

From multi-signature liquidity engine

The Momentum team launched MSafe, a multi-signature management solution in the Move ecosystem in the early days, and was used by multiple projects for treasury management after Aptos and Sui were launched. This background led the team to develop Momentum with security as one of the core design concepts, including smart contract audits, code reviews, and real-time monitoring.

In May 2024, after another leading DEX in the Sui ecosystem, Cetus, encountered a security incident, Momentum collaborated with the Sui Foundation to participate in ecological security reinforcement. After the event, the platform's TVL was restored and continued to rise.

Cross-chain and liquidity integration

Momentum is built on the L1 public chain Sui, relying on the high performance and low fees of the chain to provide an on-chain experience close to that of a centralized trading platform. However, Sui has a gap with public chains such as Ethereum and Solana in terms of liquidity scale.

To improve this situation, Momentum has partnered with the cross-chain protocol Wormhole to introduce the Native Token Transfers (NTT) framework, becoming the first project in the Sui ecosystem to adopt this technology. NTT enables cross-chain transfer of native tokens without the need for traditional wrapping methods. With this solution, tokens such as ETH, SOL, and BONK can be traded natively on Sui, increasing the depth of cross-chain pools and maintaining composability with Sui's native protocol.

Promoting tokenized asset trading

Momentum is developing a tokenized asset trading platform and is currently connected to stablecoins issued by compliant institutions and backed by physical assets, including USDC (Circle), USDY (Ondo US Dollar Yield), and FDUSD (First Digital USD).

In the future, the platform plans to expand to various types of assets such as stocks, bonds, and commodities, and cooperate with custodians to ensure the legitimacy and security of on-chain transactions. By centrally managing tokenized assets from different sources, users can trade cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized securities simultaneously on a single platform.

Project Incubation and Ecosystem Construction

Momentum also plans to launch a Launchpad linked to its DEX to provide financing and user resource support for early-stage projects. The platform will use a project screening mechanism, mainly for early-stage potential project parties, rather than being open to all types of token issuance.

Financing and Partnerships

Momentum has received institutional investment from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Circle Ventures, Superscrypt, and others, with Superscrypt backed by Singapore's state-owned investment institution. The latest round of strategic funding amounted to $100 million, led by OKX Ventures.

The project team maintains strategic partnerships with the Sui Foundation, Mysten Labs CPO Adeniyi Abiodun, and collaborates with various ecological projects such as Agora, Ondo Finance, NAVI Protocol, SuiLend, and Turbos Finance.

The core members of the team include CEO Wendy Fu (Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, who participated in the Meta Libra/Diem project and Move language development) and co-founder Jacky Wang (who worked on cross-chain technology research at Harmony).

Current Situation and Direction

Currently, Momentum's TVL is approximately $150 million, ranking first in the Sui ecosystem. With the gradual implementation of cross-chain liquidity, tokenized assets, and Launchpad functions, its positioning is shifting from a single exchange to a multifunctional financial infrastructure.