Agent payment safety checks for Sui

What your agent needs to know about Sui

Finality

A Sui transaction is final once a full node holds signed effects (quorum acknowledgment of the same effects digest), or when it appears in a checkpoint signed by a validator quorum. Docs say end-to-end finality typically takes 400 to 700 ms. A transaction that executed and aborted on chain is still final, with a failed status, so an agent must read the execution status, not just finality. Epoch changes, about every 24 hours, delay user transactions by a few hundred milliseconds.^[1]

Fees

Gas is paid in SUI: computation units times gas price plus storage units times storage price, minus any storage rebate. Gas price must be at least the reference gas price set each epoch; anything above is a tip. The gas budget must be between 2,000 MIST and 50 SUI. If the budget is too low, the failed transaction still charges part or all of it.^[2]

Stablecoins

Circle lists native USDC on Sui, with a full coin type string. Sui is CCTP domain 8. Circle marks Fast Transfer from Sui as N/A because a Standard transfer from Sui already attests in about 0.5 seconds. Tether's supported protocols list does not include Sui, so a USDT on Sui is not an issuer-listed token.^{[3],[4],[5],[7]}

How agent payments go wrong on Sui

1. 1. Gas budget too low

   A budget below the real cost makes the transaction fail while still charging part or all of the budget. Set the budget from a dry run, and keep a SUI balance above the maximum budget.^[2]

2. 2. Executed but aborted

   A transaction that aborted on chain is final with a failed status. An agent that stops at 'finalized' may mark an unpaid order paid. Read the effects status.^[1]

3. 3. Fake USDC coin type

   Coins are identified by a full type string, so a lookalike module can use the name USDC. Compare the whole coin type string to the Circle-published value.^[3]

4. 4. Timing a CCTP transfer with the wrong clock

   CCTP timing depends on the source chain and transfer type. A Standard transfer from Sui attests in about 0.5 seconds; for transfers into Sui, per Circle's table, Standard from Ethereum and most OP Stack chains (Base, OP Mainnet, Unichain, World Chain) and Arbitrum takes about 15 to 19 minutes, but from Ink about 30 minutes, Morph 20 to 30 minutes, Starknet 2 to 4 hours and Linea 6 to 32 hours. Fast Transfer, where the source offers it, takes about 8 to 20 seconds. Read Circle's table for your source chain. Set the timeout per source route, and do not release goods on a burn event before the mint lands on Sui.^[4],[7]

Pre-flight checklist for a Sui agent

• Compare the full coin type string to Circle's published USDC type.
• Run a dry run to set the gas budget and keep SUI above it.
• Read the execution status in the effects, not just finality.
• For bridged inflows, wait for the mint on Sui, not the burn on the source chain.
• Handle a transaction delay around epoch changes before retrying.

Explorers to confirm a payment

• Suiscan
• SuiVision

Sources

1. [1] Transaction lifecycle, Sui docs
2. [2] Gas in Sui, Sui docs
3. [3] USDC Contract Addresses, Circle
4. [4] CCTP supported chains and domains, Circle
5. [5] Supported Protocols, Tether
6. [6] CCTP overview, Circle
7. [7] CCTP finality and block confirmations, Circle

Checked against these sources on 9 November 2026. Networks change: confirm against the live docs before you rely on a number. This page is a checklist from public documentation. It is not a security audit, legal, compliance or investment advice.