In July 2024, we built our first dApp on the Sui blockchain: a fully functional NFT marketplace designed to explore the transition from Rust to Move and test Sui’s performance-first architecture. This wasn’t just another marketplace. It was our technical deep dive into Sui’s object-centric model and Move’s ownership semantics—both of which posed real challenges, even for a team experienced with MultiversX, EVM chains, and Solana.
Why This Was Different
Unlike traditional smart contract models where tokens live inside contracts, Sui treats everything—including balances—as transferable objects. That meant rethinking how we handle listings, bids, and storage at a protocol level.
From there, we:
- Designed and deployed smart contracts using the Move language
- Leveraged Dynamic Object Fields and Tables for scalable data structures
- Built a frontend dApp for listing, buying, canceling, and bidding on NFTs
- Implemented custom indexing and logic to efficiently surface listing states in real-time
Key Features We Delivered
- Listing, buying, canceling, and bidding on NFTs
- Custom object-based state management using shared objects
- Fully integrated frontend using JSON-RPC queries to the chain
- A flexible marketplace that lets sellers manage listings and bidders place or cancel offers dynamically
What We Learned
Move’s ownership model demanded precision, and Sui’s novel architecture required a new mental model altogether. But the payoff? Lightning-fast performance, native composability, and a new lens on building dApps in a parallel-execution world.
We came in to learn and stayed to ship something that works.
This project was more than a technical challenge, it was our introduction to the Sui ecosystem. Building this NFT marketplace from the ground up gave us a hands-on understanding of Sui’s architecture, Move’s constraints, and the creative freedom that comes with object-based design. It set the tone for everything we’ve built on Sui since, and marked the perfect starting point for what’s become a long-term commitment to shipping real, production-ready tools on this network.
Full source code can be found here: GitHub
