Sui Liquid Staking Compared (2026): 5 LSTs

Updated 23 October 2026: TVL refreshed from DefiLlama and a section added on SpringSui's sSUI, the largest Sui LST. Fees, unstaking rules and APYs were last measured against each protocol's documentation and on-chain state on 28 September 2026.

The largest Sui liquid staking tokens are SpringSui's sSUI ($61.5M TVL on 23 October 2026), Haedal's haSUI ($38.2M) and Volo's vSUI ($25.3M), followed by Aftermath's afSUI and JewelSwap's JWLSUI. They all earn the same validator rewards, so measured yields sit within a few tenths of a percent of each other; the real differences are fees, how fast you can get back to SUI, and who picks the validators.

sSUI, haSUI, vSUI, afSUI and JWLSUI all do the same basic job: you deposit SUI, it gets staked with Sui validators, and you get a token you can still trade or use in DeFi. They differ in who issues them, what they charge, how you get back to SUI, and who picks the validators. Their yields are closer together than most comparisons suggest. In September 2026 native SUI staking paid about 1.2–1.5% a year, and every LST's yield comes from that same pool of validator rewards, minus fees.

This guide compares them side by side, with a section on each, then explains the design choices behind them so you can pick the one that fits how you'll use it.

haSUI vs vSUI vs afSUI vs JWLSUI at a glance

SpringSui's sSUI is covered in its own section below; we have not measured its fees and APY to the same standard, so it is not in this table.

*Our own estimate from each protocol's on-chain exchange rate over the 30 days to 28 September 2026 (Sui epochs 1234 to 1264). APYs are variable and change every epoch. Protocols' own apps may show different figures because they use different windows: Haedal, for example, annualises the change over the last 48 hours.

The baseline: what native SUI staking pays

Every Sui LST stakes SUI with ordinary validators, so native staking sets the ceiling on what they can earn before any extra DeFi yield. Using each validator's on-chain staking pool exchange rate over the 30 days to 27 September 2026, we measured:

• median validator APY: about 1.36%
• range across 126 active validators: about 1.18% to 1.52%
• stake-weighted average: about 1.40%

The spread mostly comes from commission, which ranged from 0% to 20% (median 8%). Sui's docs explain how the staking pool exchange rate works. Yields are low partly because the stake subsidy shrinks over time: the on-chain parameters cut it by 10% every 90 epochs, and about 7.0 billion SUI was staked at the end of September 2026.

An LST can't beat this baseline on staking alone. After its fee, it will usually pay a little less. What it adds is liquidity and the chance to earn a second yield in DeFi. For a step-by-step guide to native staking, see how to stake SUI.

haSUI (Haedal)

haSUI is the liquid staking token from Haedal, one of the longest-running Sui LSTs and, with $38.2M of TVL on 23 October 2026, the second largest after SpringSui. Our Haedal profile covers the protocol in more depth. It is value-accruing: your haSUI balance stays the same while each haSUI becomes redeemable for more SUI.

• Mechanism: the conversion rate is total staked SUI, plus rewards after Haedal's commission, minus SUI already unstaked, divided by haSUI supply, as set out in Haedal's value-accrual docs.
• Fees: 6% of staking rewards. There's no deposit fee.
• Validators: in "Automated" mode Haedal spreads stake across validators chosen by its algorithm and rebalances periodically. In "Manual" mode you pick validators yourself.
• Unstaking: a regular unstake is free and takes 1–2 epochs. You receive a claim object, then collect your SUI. Instant unstake, which uses Sui's SIP-33, costs 0.02% of the amount (Haedal unstake docs).
• APY: our 30-day on-chain estimate is about 1.3–1.4%. The exact figure depends on how accrued fees are counted.

haSUI is the most widely used of the four as collateral. On 28 September 2026, DefiLlama listed about $25.6M of haSUI supplied on NAVI alone.

vSUI (Volo)

vSUI is Volo's liquid staking token, with $25.3M of TVL on 23 October 2026 (see our Volo profile). It is also value-accruing: the exchange rate is total SUI (principal plus rewards) divided by total vSUI supply.

• Fees: Volo takes 10% of staking rewards, and its displayed APY is already net of that fee. On-chain, Volo's v2 stake pool also sets a 0.03% (3 bps) unstake fee and no stake fee.
• Unstaking: instant, using SIP-33, according to Volo's docs. The minimum is 1 SUI to stake and 1 vSUI to unstake.
• Validators: Volo manages the validator set and weights on your behalf.
• APY: about 1.4% on our 30-day on-chain estimate, net of accrued fees.

vSUI is widely used as collateral. DefiLlama showed about $18.0M of vSUI supplied on NAVI on 28 September 2026.

afSUI (Aftermath)

afSUI is Aftermath's liquid staking token. It is smaller, at $2.9M of TVL on 23 October 2026, but has two distinctive features. Aftermath authored SIP-6, the Sui framework change that made liquid staking possible without centralised components. And afSUI lets you choose which validator your SUI goes to, instead of the protocol choosing.

• Fees: a 5% fee on the staking rewards you earned, charged when you use the regular (delayed) unstake. Validators can also set an optional stake fee of 0–0.1%, which is zero by default (afSUI fees).
• Unstaking: delayed unstake pays out when the epoch ends, within 24 hours. Instant unstake draws on a SUI reserve for a fee of 0.1% to 1%, depending on how full the reserve is. Aftermath's FAQ quotes a wider 0.1–5% range, so check the fee shown before you confirm. You can also swap afSUI for SUI through Aftermath's router (unstaking docs).
• APY: Aftermath's public staking API returned 1.43% on 28 September 2026.

JWLSUI and SJWLSUI (JewelSwap)

JWLSUI uses a dual-token model. You mint JWLSUI 1:1 against SUI (new deposits are paused as of October 2026; holders can still unstake and redeem), and it's designed to stay pegged. To earn staking yield, you stake JWLSUI and receive SJWLSUI, whose exchange rate against JWLSUI is designed to rise once a day as staking rewards arrive while the protocol operates. Keeping the pegged token and the yield-bearing token separate makes JWLSUI easier to reason about as collateral or in a stable pair. The cost is one extra step to earn the yield. Our JWLSUI explainer goes into more detail.

• Backing: JWLSUI is 1:1 backed. The protocol can mint up to 1.1 JWLSUI per SUI, with the extra going into protocol-owned liquidity in the JWLSUI–SUI pool on Cetus.
• Fees: the on-chain pool configuration sets a 10% platform fee on staking rewards. The same configuration stakes 90% of deposits and keeps 10% liquid. Redemption is normally free. The docs describe a dynamic redemption fee that could apply during heavy redemptions, but it isn't active.
• Unstaking: SJWLSUI to JWLSUI is instant and free. JWLSUI to SUI through the protocol has a 10-day unbonding period, during which you hold a transferable SUI claim NFT. Or you can swap JWLSUI for SUI on Cetus at the market rate.
• Validators: holders of staked JWLSUI vote in the Gauge on how delegation is split across whitelisted validators (five in the current configuration).
• APY: not verified. The JWLSUI pool is small (DefiLlama showed about $24k for JewelSwap liquid staking on Sui on 23 October 2026), and we couldn't measure a realised SJWLSUI rate to the same standard as the other rows. Check the live figure in the app before relying on it.

JWLSUI is the smallest of the four by a wide margin, so exits through the Cetus pool depend on thin liquidity. Its differences are the dual-token design and holder-governed validator selection, not size.

sSUI (SpringSui)

sSUI, or Spring Staked SUI, is the first token built on the SpringSui standard from the Suilend team, and with about $61.5M of TVL on 23 October 2026 it is the largest liquid staking token on Sui. It is value-accruing like haSUI and vSUI: 1 sSUI started at 1 SUI and becomes worth more SUI as rewards accrue (SpringSui docs).

• Unstaking: instant, in one transaction, for the whole supply. Suilend proposed SIP-33, the Sui change that lets an LST always be redeemed for the underlying SUI immediately, and SpringSui was built around it.
• Use in DeFi: sSUI is accepted on Suilend, and Suilend pays some of its incentives in sSUI.
• Standard: other teams can deploy their own LST on the SpringSui standard permissionlessly, which is why several smaller Sui LSTs share its design.
• Fees and APY: we have not measured sSUI's fee or realised APY to the same standard as the table above, so check the live figures in the app before comparing.

If instant exit matters most to you, sSUI and vSUI are the two to look at first.

The other Sui LSTs

AlphaFi's stSUI holds about $0.8M, and a handful of smaller LSTs are built on the SpringSui standard. We haven't verified their current APYs, so they aren't in the table. For staking options beyond Sui, see our best crypto staking platforms guide.

The three design choices behind them

Rebasing, appreciating or dual token

A rebasing token keeps a 1:1 price and grows your balance. That's intuitive, but it breaks many DeFi integrations, which assume balances only change when you move them. An appreciating (value-accruing) token keeps your balance fixed and grows its value against SUI. haSUI, vSUI and afSUI all work this way, and it's the easiest model to integrate. The dual-token model splits the two jobs: JWLSUI stays pegged and SJWLSUI appreciates.

How you get out

Native Sui staking has no multi-day unbonding. An unstake transaction returns principal plus rewards, though rewards only accrue for epochs your stake was active for the whole time. LSTs add their own exit rules. vSUI unstakes instantly. haSUI and afSUI offer a free or cheap route within about a day, plus an instant route for a fee. JWLSUI's protocol redemption takes 10 days, with the claim NFT keeping the position transferable in the meantime.

Exit design matters most in a sell-off. If an LST can be redeemed at its exchange rate quickly and cheaply, arbitrageurs have a guaranteed exit, which helps keep its market price near fair value. A token that relies on DEX liquidity to exit can trade below its underlying value exactly when you want out.

Who picks the validators

Validator choice affects returns and how concentrated Sui's stake becomes. Volo and Haedal's automated mode choose for you. Aftermath and Haedal's manual mode let you choose. JewelSwap puts the decision to a holder vote through its Gauge.

How to choose

• If you may need SUI back quickly, favour instant or next-epoch redemption: sSUI, vSUI, haSUI's instant route, or afSUI. No extra yield makes up for being unable to exit in a drawdown.
• If you'll use the LST as collateral, check which lending markets list it and at what loan-to-value. haSUI and vSUI have the deepest lending integrations.
• If you want to choose your validator yourself, afSUI or haSUI's manual mode let you do that.
• If you want a pegged token that's separate from the yield-bearing one, or a vote on delegation, JWLSUI and SJWLSUI are built for that. Size your position to the pool's liquidity.
• Don't choose on headline APY alone. The spread between the major LSTs was a fraction of a percentage point in September 2026.

Risks worth naming

Liquid staking adds layers of risk on top of native staking. There's smart contract risk in the LST protocol itself. There's peg risk, because the token can trade below its underlying value. There's validator risk, because poor performance or high commission lowers returns. And if you then lend, farm or leverage the LST, each layer adds to the ones below it rather than spreading the risk. We cover these in more depth in is liquid staking safe?

Leveraged loops built on LSTs deserve particular caution. With native yields around 1.4%, a loop only pays if borrowing costs stay below that, and it's hardest to unwind exactly when the LST trades below its underlying value.

vSUI and sSUI are also the reward tokens on Sui's two largest lenders. NAVI pays incentives in vSUI and Suilend in sSUI; NAVI vs Suilend compares the two markets.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best liquid staking token on Sui?

There is no single best one. By size, SpringSui's sSUI leads with about $61.5M of TVL on 23 October 2026, ahead of haSUI ($38.2M) and vSUI ($25.3M). sSUI and vSUI unstake instantly, afSUI lets you pick your validator, and haSUI has the deepest lending integrations. Yields differ by only a few tenths of a percent.

What is sSUI?

sSUI is SpringSui's liquid staking token, built by the Suilend team. It is value-accruing, can be redeemed for SUI instantly at any size, and is the largest Sui LST by TVL.

What is haSUI?

haSUI is Haedal's liquid staking token for SUI. You stake SUI with Haedal and receive haSUI, which becomes redeemable for more SUI over time as staking rewards accrue, after a 6% protocol fee.

What is vSUI?

vSUI is Volo's liquid staking token. It is value-accruing, Volo takes 10% of staking rewards, and it can be unstaked back to SUI instantly.

What is afSUI?

afSUI is Aftermath's liquid staking token. You choose the validator, the regular unstake pays out at the end of the epoch with a 5% fee on the rewards you earned, and instant unstaking costs 0.1–1% depending on the reserve.

Which Sui liquid staking token has the highest APY?

In September 2026 the major LSTs were within a few tenths of a percent of each other, at roughly 1.3–1.45%, because they all earn the same validator rewards. Fees, exit terms and where you can use the token matter more than the headline rate.

Is liquid staking APY higher than native SUI staking?

Not on staking alone. LSTs earn native validator rewards minus their fee, so they usually pay slightly less. The advantage is that the token stays liquid and can earn a second yield in DeFi.

How is JWLSUI different from haSUI or vSUI?

JWLSUI splits liquid staking into two tokens: JWLSUI is minted 1:1 (new deposits paused as of October 2026) and designed to stay pegged, while SJWLSUI earns the staking yield. Validator delegation is decided by holder vote, and protocol redemption takes 10 days with a transferable claim NFT.

Keep reading

• How to stake SUI in 2026: native vs liquid staking
• Sui staking rewards explained: APY and epochs
• What is veSCA? Scallop's vote-escrowed SCA explained
• Best DeFi platforms on Sui in 2026
• Sui DEXs compared (2026)
• JewelSwap crypto glossary
• What Is Slashing in Crypto Staking?
• Restaking in Crypto Explained (2026): How It Works, Risks

This article is educational and isn't financial advice. APYs are variable, were measured or retrieved on 28 September 2026, and will change. TVL figures are from DefiLlama on 23 October 2026. JewelSwap issues JWLSUI and has an interest in it.