At Sui Basecamp 2026 in Singapore on October 7, Mysten Labs, the company behind Sui, ran a public stress test of “tunnels.” The reported peak was 40,614,180 transactions per second. The test was framed around AI agents making very small, frequent payments to one another.
A caution before the numbers. The reports behind this story, from Cointelegraph, HackerNoon and the Sui Foundation, could not be opened for a recheck, so the details below are unconfirmed. Treat every figure as a claim by the organizers.
How a tunnel works
Tunnels are offchain payment channels. Here is the life of one, as described:
- A tunnel opens on Sui. This step reaches the chain.
- The parties exchange many payments inside it. These transactions are not recorded on Sui one by one.
- The tunnel later settles back to Sui in a batch, and the net result lands on the chain.
As reported, the test opened more than 10,000 tunnels at once and simulated AI agents paying each other for things like games, chat, and purchases. The security firm CertiK reportedly observed and logged the run, with a full report promised within days. We have not seen that report.
Why offchain numbers are a different animal
Because most activity stays off the main chain, a throughput figure for tunnels measures a different thing than throughput on a base layer. It is not comparable with card network capacity or other blockchains’ block throughput. Independent commentary reported at the time made the same point, and noted that cross-network comparisons mix measurement methods.
Why It Matters to You
- The idea is cheap, frequent micropayments between AI agents, which could matter to developers building such services.
- Nothing here is a service you can use today. The test used simulated agents, and nothing we reviewed confirms a production service.
- Watch for CertiK’s report and for real usage after launch.
What the number does not show
The 40.6 million figure is a peak in a controlled, organizer-run demonstration, not sustained real-world traffic, and it counts activity inside offchain tunnels, not Sui’s base-layer throughput. CertiK’s report was reportedly pending, and until it is public the number is not independently confirmed. The test does not show that any real AI agent payment service has launched on Sui. Tunnels still need to settle on the main chain, so costs and limits at settlement are not covered by this number.
Quick answers
- What is a tunnel? An offchain payment channel. Parties exchange many payments inside it and settle the net result on Sui in one batch.
- Is Sui now faster than card networks? That cannot be concluded. The figure measures offchain tunnel activity in a demonstration, not a live payment network.
- Can AI agents pay each other on Sui today? Nothing we reviewed confirms a production service. The test used simulated agents.
- What should readers watch for? CertiK’s published report, and whether tunnels show real usage and settlement costs after launch.
Sources
- HackerNoon: Sui Hits 40.6 Million TPS Live in Singapore With CertiK as the Referee (accessed Oct 13, 2026)
- Crypto Briefing: Sui hits 40 million transactions per second in live Basecamp test (accessed Oct 13, 2026)