Sui’s programmable offchain tunnels have achieved a staggering 40.6 million transactions per second during a live stress test designed to simulate high-frequency activity between autonomous artificial intelligence agents. The performance milestone shatters previous benchmarks and highlights the expanding capabilities of layer-1 blockchain architectures to keep pace with evolving technological demands.
According to announcements from the network, Sui’s programmable offchain tunnels processed more than 40 million transactions per second during the live demonstration, eclipsing a previous throughput record set earlier in the year. The test, which was conducted on Wednesday at the Sui Basecamp conference in Singapore, reached an exact peak of 40,614,180 transactions per second (TPS). This performance represents a monumental leap forward from a similar test conducted in July, which achieved approximately 6.1 million TPS.
The mechanism behind this record-breaking throughput relies on offchain processing architecture. Transactions are executed swiftly through Sui tunnels—programmable channels that remain offchain during high-intensity operations and ultimately settle directly to the underlying Sui blockchain when those channels are closed. During the live demonstration in Singapore, more than 10,000 individual tunnels were opened simultaneously on the Sui mainnet. The simulated activity was diverse, spanning a range of micro-interactions including payments, gaming operations, and chat applications to replicate real-world usage conditions.
Developers and project leaders emphasized that these specialized tunnels are deliberately engineered to handle high-frequency activity, particularly the rapid-fire interactions expected between autonomous AI agents, without imposing the heavy burden of processing every single micro-transaction directly on the main ledger.
Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and chief product officer at Mysten Labs, the original contributor to the Sui network, pointed out the paradigm shift that artificial intelligence brings to digital transaction volumes. Abiodun noted that Sui is specifically engineered for a future where millions of AI agents are transacting autonomously every single day. Elaborating on the sheer velocity required for such an ecosystem, Abiodun stated that no traditional market in the world needs 6 million transactions per second, let alone 40 million, because human beings simply do not move that fast. However, he emphasized that automated software agents do operate at that unprecedented scale.
To ensure the credibility and transparency of the milestone, independent auditing firm CertiK participated in the demonstration. CertiK served as an independent auditor during the live stress test and is currently reviewing the comprehensive test data generated on-site, with an official verification report expected to be published in the coming days.
The successful demonstration at Sui Basecamp underscores the ongoing race within the blockchain industry to build infrastructure capable of supporting next-generation applications, particularly as artificial intelligence increasingly intersects with decentralized finance and automated digital economies. By pushing the boundaries of throughput via offchain tunneling solutions, the network aims to position itself as a foundational layer for the anticipated wave of machine-to-machine transactions.
