Stirring Up the Crypto Kitchen: Explaining Sushi in Cryptocurrency 

When crypto traders ask for the price of Sushi, chances are they don’t mean the latest rate for California rolls at a local Hibachi hotspot. Since its highly publicized launch in 2020, the Sushi protocol has ascended the ranks as one of the most tracked projects in Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, and it continues to draw attention from crypto traders. 

Despite almost collapsing in its early days, Sushi maintains a solid position in DeFi and offers many offerings for crypto enthusiasts. 

The history of Sushi

Sushi’s founding dates back to 2020 when the pseudonymous social media personalities “Chef Nomi” and “0xMaki” started publicizing a fresh decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum (ETH) called “SushiSwap,” which was modeled on the already successful DEX Uniswap. SushiSwap’s co-founders took advantage of Uniswap’s open-source code to copy-paste the same peer-to-peer (P2P) trading experience on a different decentralized application (dApp). 

To drum up support for the new SushiSwap exchange, Chef Nomi offered Uniswap liquidity providers (LPs) free SUSHI token rewards if they transferred their Uniswap LP tokens to SushiSwap’s ecosystem. This “vampire attack” technique brought $1 billion to SushiSwap within a few weeks, but traders soon discovered Chef Nomi tried to pocket $10 million worth of crypto from the project’s treasury. Although Chef Nomi attempted to defend his actions, he returned the funds to SushiSwap and retreated from the project. 

At first, SushiSwap only offered spot crypto trading on its standalone Ethereum DEX, but the re-branded “Sushi” now offers various DeFi services on multiple blockchains, including loans, startup funding, and staking rewards with the yield-bearing token xSUSHI. 

How does the Sushi crypto project work?

Sushi is a dApp built using automated programs called “smart contracts” on the Ethereum blockchain. Smart contracts use pre-programmed instructions to automatically detect changes on a decentralized network and carry out their commands without third-party intervention. 

At its launch, Sushi’s spot cryptocurrency DEX used the same “automated market maker” (AMM) model pioneered on Uniswap, which relies on crypto traders (aka liquidity providers) depositing digital funds in smart contract-controlled “liquidity pools” for P2P transfers. To compensate traders for locking funds in liquidity pools, Sushi rewards users with a percentage of total trading fees and its proprietary DeFi token SUSHI. Traders link their self-custodial crypto wallets to deposit digital assets into liquidity pools or to trade virtual currencies.

Although Sushi’s Ethereum-based DEX remains its signature feature, the blockchain continues introducing new products and services to compete with other dApps. For example, the “Sushi Pay” portal lets traders transfer automated salaries using Ethereum-based tokens to a recipient’s crypto wallet. Sushi also offers staking rewards on select cryptocurrency tokens and funding opportunities for startup projects. 

FAQs on Sushi cryptocurrency 

What is the SUSHI cryptocurrency? 

SUSHI is Sushi’s proprietary utility token built using Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard. As a “fungible” cryptocurrency, the SUSHI coin price is divisible and has a 1:1 market rate. Crypto traders use a real-time SUSHI price chart to monitor the current value per SUSHI when trading or transferring this cryptocurrency. Within the Sushi dApp, SUSHI serves as a liquidity mining incentives mechanism and a governance token to vote on upcoming proposals. 

Does Sushi only work on Ethereum? 

At first, Sushi only functioned as an Ethereum DEX, but it has since become a multi-chain dApp available on many other networks. The list of Sushi-compatible blockchains continues to grow, but a few popular alternatives include Arbitrum (ARB), Polygon (MATIC), and Optimism (OP).

How do traders use Sushi? 

To start swapping or staking crypto on Sushi, traders must link a compatible self-custodial crypto wallet to the official Sushi dApp. For example, traders interested in using Sushi’s Ethereum DEX use an Ethereum wallet like MetaMask to link with the Sushi ecosystem. After successfully connecting a crypto wallet to Sushi, eligible traders can exchange virtual currencies, deposit assets in a liquidity pool, or take advantage of other DeFi services offered on Sushi. 

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