NAVI Protocol Launches NAVI Prime, an Institutional Lending Framework on Sui

NAVI Protocol has introduced NAVI Prime, a lending framework deployed on the Sui blockchain and designed for funds with more demanding requirements around clarity, transparency, and control over capital management. The company described the new product as lending infrastructure built for institutions and professional capital, extending NAVI Protocol's existing role as a liquidity platform within the Sui ecosystem.

The announcement was published on X:

1/ 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

A framework aimed at professional capital

NAVI Prime is 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.

The institutional focus places NAVI Prime within a wider industry pattern. Other DeFi lending platforms have built institution-specific products to serve capital that faces compliance and counterparty requirements, including Aave Arc, a permissioned liquidity pool launched in 2022 with participant whitelisting administered by infrastructure firm Fireblocks, and Maple Finance, which has specialized in loans to institutional borrowers since its 2021 debut. NAVI's stated emphasis on transparency and control mirrors the features professional capital has typically required to access onchain lending markets.

Transparency is one of the main elements of the product, according to NAVI Protocol. Because NAVI Prime runs on Sui, its lending activity can draw on 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's existing operations on Sui

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. Sui itself is a layer-1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs, a company founded by former Meta engineers from the Diem payments project, and the Move language used on the network originated in that work.

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, and 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, with all of the recorded capital 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. On a cumulative basis, DefiLlama has recorded $39.1 million in fees and $16.1 million in 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, with roughly 816.2 million NAVX tokens circulating from a maximum supply of 1 billion. 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.

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.

Stablecoins support Sui lending activity

Stablecoins have become an important part of NAVI's lending markets as Sui has added new dollar-denominated assets, and 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, and 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, an integration that 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 offering $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, and the 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, and NAVI joined Aftermath, Bluefin, Cetus, Scallop, Suilend, and other Sui applications in 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, and 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. With the addition, $SUI joined Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar among the digital assets covered by CME's regulated derivatives products.

Source: crypto.news