NAVI Prime launches institutional lending framework on Sui

NAVI Protocol has launched NAVI Prime, a Sui-based lending framework designed for funds seeking more clarity, transparency, and control over capital management.

NAVI Protocol said NAVI Prime was built for funds with more demanding requirements around clarity, transparency, and control. Deployed on the Sui blockchain, the framework provides lending infrastructure for institutions and professional capital.

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Today, we're introducing NAVI Prime.

A new lending framework on @SuiNetwork designed for capital that demands greater clarity, transparency, and control.

👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/9RILmz6krX

— NAVI Protocol (@navi_protocol) August 17, 2026

According to the announcement, NAVI Prime focuses on giving professional investors a more transparent and controllable way to manage funds through onchain lending. The product extends NAVI Protocol’s existing role as a liquidity platform within the Sui ecosystem.

NAVI Prime focuses on professional capital

NAVI Prime introduces a lending framework created specifically for professional market participants. While NAVI Protocol’s existing platform serves users who supply assets or borrow against collateral, the new framework concentrates on the requirements of funds and institutional investors.

Transparency forms one of the main elements of the product, according to the NAVI Protocol. Because NAVI Prime runs on Sui, its lending activity can use the network’s onchain infrastructure while giving participating funds clearer oversight of capital management.

Control is another part of the framework’s stated design. NAVI said the product was created for funds seeking more authority over how their assets are managed in a lending environment.

NAVI Protocol already operates lending and borrowing markets on Sui. Its official documentation describes the platform as a unified service for lending, borrowing, trading, and yield strategies, while the Sui ecosystem directory lists NAVI as a native liquidity protocol built with the Move programming language.

The protocol’s existing lending service allows users to supply supported tokens and earn interest. Borrowers can deposit collateral to obtain other digital assets, with the system using overcollateralized positions to manage loan risk.

According to DefiLlama, NAVI’s lending markets support SUI, USDC, USDT, wrapped Ether, and wrapped Bitcoin. The platform also provides isolated lending pools and flash loans.

NAVI Protocol manages more than $124 million

DefiLlama tracked approximately $124.6 million in total value locked across NAVI Protocol as of Aug. 17. All of the recorded capital was deployed on Sui.

Active loans stood at about $65.8 million, meaning borrowers were using more than half of the value held across the protocol’s tracked products. DefiLlama includes NAVI Lending, Volo LST, and Volo Vault within the NAVI Protocol group.

During the preceding 30 days, NAVI generated approximately $404,300 in fees, according to DefiLlama. Protocol revenue for the same period reached about $153,700, while annualized fees were estimated at $23.2 million.

NAVI Lending collects interest and borrowing fees from users, while Volo’s products generate revenue from staking services and yield strategies. DefiLlama recorded $39.1 million in cumulative fees and $16.1 million in cumulative protocol revenue.

The protocol’s NAVX governance token had a circulating market value of about $5.7 million at the time of the data snapshot. Roughly 816.2 million NAVX tokens were circulating from a maximum supply of 1 billion.

NAVI Protocol raised $4 million through two funding rounds in early 2024, DefiLlama data showed. Investors listed for the rounds included OKX Ventures, Hashed, Mysten Labs, Mechanism Capital, Coin98 Ventures, Gate.io, and several other crypto-focused firms.

NAVI’s governance system allows NAVX holders to participate in proposals and vote on protocol changes, according to its documentation. The platform has also developed software tools through which developers can add lending, borrowing, account management, and pool functions to Sui applications.

Stablecoins support Sui lending activity

Stablecoins have become an important part of NAVI’s lending markets as Sui has added new dollar-denominated assets. The protocol currently supports tokens including USDC and USDT, according to DefiLlama.

In October 2024, crypto.news reported that NAVI would support the native USDC rollout from its first day on Sui. Circle issues USDC, while native integration allows users to move the stablecoin through Sui without relying on a bridged version from another blockchain.

NAVI Protocol said at the time that users holding the bridged USDC version could exchange it for native USDC through the platform. The integration placed Circle’s stablecoin inside NAVI’s Sui-based lending and borrowing markets.

Bitcoin-linked lending later became another area of activity. In June 2025, NAVI Protocol and OKX announced a two-month xBTC campaign that offered $700,000 in incentives to users supplying the asset through Sui.

OKX allocated $200,000 in SUI rewards through its Earn service, while NAVI supplied another $500,000 in NAVX tokens. NAVI co-founder Elliscope Fang said the partnership was intended to develop BTC-based decentralized finance within the Sui ecosystem.

Sui added another dollar asset in March 2026 when USDsui entered mainnet. Bridge, a Stripe subsidiary, issues the stablecoin through its Open Issuance platform.

Sui Foundation said USDsui was designed for payments and decentralized finance. At launch, the organization reported that the network had processed more than $111 billion in stablecoin transfers during January 2026.

Ethena-backed suiUSDe had also launched on Sui one month earlier. NAVI joined Aftermath, Bluefin, Cetus, Scallop, Suilend, and other Sui applications supporting the asset from its mainnet release.

CME futures provide a regulated U.S. route

For American investors, Sui exposure is also available through futures traded on CME Group, a U.S.-regulated derivatives exchange. The contracts provide cash-settled exposure to SUI without requiring traders to hold the token in an onchain wallet.

CME Group launched SUI futures in May 2026 alongside new contracts tied to Avalanche. The exchange offers standard- and micro-sized products for both assets.

A standard SUI futures contract represents 50,000 SUI, while a micro contract represents 5,000 SUI. CME settles both products in cash using the CME CF Sui-Dollar Reference Rate.

CME said the contracts can support price exposure, hedging, relative-value trading, and basis strategies. SUI joined Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar among the digital assets covered by CME’s regulated derivatives products.