Sui launches confidential transfers in public beta

Sui opened its confidential transfers feature to public beta on June 8. The feature is live on Devnet, with a Testnet launch targeted later this year, the announcement read.

The update encrypts token balances and transfer amounts on the Sui blockchain while keeping sender and receiver addresses, token type and transaction timing visible onchain.

Encryption uses Twisted ElGamal over Ristretto255 and is paired with zero-knowledge proofs. Those proofs allow the network to verify that a transfer is valid without revealing the amount, which prevents overdrafts and unauthorized minting at the protocol level.

Mysten Labs published the implementation as open-source code on GitHub. The repository is marked unaudited and a work in progress. The release builds on a system preview previously shared by a Sui co-founder.

The design differs from privacy coins such as Monero, which hide sender, receiver and amount data using ring signatures, stealth addresses and Ring Confidential Transactions. Sui’s model encrypts numerical data while preserving address visibility.

Token issuers can attach auditor keys that permit authorized parties to decrypt balances when required. Issuers retain freeze and seize powers. Users can produce proofs of a balance or transfer amount without exposing private keys.

Mysten Labs positions the feature for institutional users that need private transaction amounts but oversight for compliance. Payment firms, stablecoin issuers and corporate treasury teams are cited as likely users.

Bridge is testing confidential transfers for stablecoin and payments use. Analytics and compliance firms TRM Labs and Merkle Science are assessing how risk scoring, monitoring and investigations work with encrypted amounts.

Sui experienced three mainnet outages in late May. Adoption by institutional partners and regulators will depend on their assessment of the controlled-privacy model.

After the public beta debut, the SUI token rose nearly 5% and was trading around $0.76 at the time of reporting.