Puffer Finance’s native token saw its price spike sharply on Oct. 14 after the liquid restaking protocol announced that token claims were now open.

The PUFFER token, which has received support from several top crypto exchanges, including Kraken, Bybit, and Bitget, rose to highs of 49 cents.

This represented a spike of more than 55% for the token just after Puffer announced the opening of token claims. Puffer Finance experienced congestion that ‘overwhelmed’ the website as rising numbers of users attempted to reclaim PUFFER tokens.

What is Puffer Finance?

PUFFER is the native governance token of Puffer Finance, a decentralized finance protocol offering yield farming and staking for its users.

The token’s role in the Puffer and UniFi, a based rollup, includes use in liquid restaking and support of actively managed services. Its integration into Puffer’s liquid restaking technology and UniFi’s AVS allows holders to earn yield and participate in the decentralized governance that manages the protocol’s treasury rewards.

Holders can stake or use PUFFER in the governance of the restaking protocol through the vePUFFER staking service.

Puffer Finance’s liquid restaking platform on Ethereum (ETH) laces it among the top protocols in terms of total value locked, with ecosystem giants such as Ether.Fi and EigenLayer leading. According to DeFiLlama data, Puffer has a TVL of over $1.4 billion.

The protocol raised $18 million during its Series A funding round in April 2024. Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital co-led the round, which also attracted backing from Coinbase Ventures, Lemniscap, and Franklin Templeton.

In an earlier round in August 2023, Puffer secured $5.5 million. Lemniscap and Lightspeed Faction co-led that round.

Members of the Trump family, including Donald Trump, publicly championed the project on social media, with the former president being titled as “Chief Crypto Advocate” Two of his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., are involved as “Web3 Ambassadors,” while his other son Barron Trump is listed as “DeFi Visionary.”

In the latest ‘Everything Crypto’ podcast, the analyst fleshes out SUI price reaching its ATH, and what exactly drove the price upwards.

He kept bullish sentiment on SUI prospects, mainly because the general trend for altcoins is always to outshine Bitcoin in this market cycle. SUI price has been able to reach new all-time highs in the recent surge and thus entered price discovery, showing very strong upwards momentum.

He further said this was likely to continue on this growth trajectory, courtesy of continuous ecosystem expansion and technological capability and performance metrics that set the blockchain apart from competitors.

SUI Price Bullish Outlook: 118% Monthly Gain, New Highs Expected

The price of SUI, the leading layer-one blockchain, has increased by 118% in the last month alone and by 452% in the last year, reaching its all-time-high.

The ‘Everything Crypto’ analyst remained bullish on SUI potential, especially now that altcoins typically outperform Bitcoin in this market phase. The recent breakout to new all-time highs and price discovery mode is underway.

He concluded it would continue higher, considering the still-expanding ecosystem and actual technological and performance metrics set it apart from other blockchains.

This increase has tracked the movement in the blockchain’s ecosystem metrics, such as the total number of active accounts, total daily transactions, and total value locked. However, not everyone was convinced that SUI price will go up. Just a day ago, data from Coinglass showed high SUI exchange inflows for the past two consecutive weeks, suggesting that holders have possibly been sending the coins to exchanges to sell.

Still, SUI, at some point, even overtook Solana in daily transactions, recording 58 million, thus illustrating its very high throughput of transactions and fast time to finality. This network currently remains one of the leading competing layer-one blockchains capable of handling 297,000 transactions per second and having time to finalize 400 milliseconds.

USDC Integration and Growing Ecosystem

Another significant development is the recent launch of native USDC on SUI, which will enable the creation of more financial products in the DeFi space and give users access to digital dollar savings without exposure to traditional banks. With USDC natively present, there will no longer be a need for bridging via Wormhole or similar services that make cross-chain transactions seamless.

He compared SUI to Solana, even saying that the token could be the Solana of this crypto cycle. He added that, for now, its market cap is around $6 billion, which was what Solana was in April 2021 before it soared upward over $250 at its peak. If SUI  did the same thing, then at least a tenfold increase in its market capitalization would push its price to approximately $22.5 per token.

This is in addition to continued growth in the token’s ecosystem metrics and ramping adoption, placing it as one of the strongest-performing altcoins. The analyst said this makes monitoring key ecosystem developments very significant, including new token launches and large partnerships that could further propel SUI demand and token price.

The latest jump in SUI price partly comes from Bybit Launchpool’s decision to support the coin as its first native token. This is an essential move for Bybit and the SUI ecosystem, showing a growing interest in the token and belief in its potential and capabilities.

Renowned Analyst Predicts Rise

A widely followed crypto analyst had predicted the possibility of a new peak just hours before SUI price reached its high.

In that regard, according to Michaël van de Poppe, an analyst widely recognized for updates on what to expect from the cryptocurrency market, he told his over half a million followers on X that SUI, a blockchain platform, and someone would consider a rival to Solana, was about to experience a breakout.

He forecasted a potential movement of more than 23% from its price levels and mentioned the $1.79 mark as the vital support the coin already had a bounce from, jumping 10%. His projection indicated that more upside could be seen, with the target falling between $2.25 and $2.50.

The SUI price changed hands at $2.23, up a whopping 117% since September 12.

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Teuta

Teuta is a seasoned writer and editor with over 15 years of experience in macroeconomics, technology, and the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. Starting her career in 2005 as a lifestyle writer for Cosmopolitan in Croatia, she expanded into covering business and economy for several esteemed publications like Forbes and Bloomberg. Influenced by figures like Don Tapscott and Bruce Dickinson, Teuta embraced the blockchain revolution, believing crypto to be one of humanity’s most crucial inventions. Her fintech involvement began in 2014, focusing on crypto, blockchain, NFTs, and Web3. Known for her excellent teamwork and communication skills, Teuta holds a double MA in Political Science and Law, enjoys punk rock, chablis, and has a passion for shoes.

Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.