DeFi liquid-staking application on Sui · Web3 · DeFi · Application-layer integration
Winter Walrus
Liquid-staking platform for WAL on the Sui blockchain; application-layer integration with existing Move contracts.
- Role
- Software Engineer — Web3 / DeFi applications (freelance)
- Organisation
- Interest Labs
- Period · status
- Mar – Jul 2025 · Completed
- TypeScript
- React
- Sui TypeScript SDK
- Move (integration only)
Overview
Winter Walrus is a liquid-staking platform for WAL (the Walrus protocol token) on Sui, built by Interest Labs. Users stake WAL and receive a liquid staking token (wWAL) they can use across Sui DeFi.
I worked on the application layer of the product as a freelance engineer.
Problem
A DeFi interface has to turn on-chain state and transaction flows into something a user can trust: connect a wallet, see positions and balances, build and sign staking and unstaking transactions correctly, and handle failures with real funds involved.
Role
Built application-level Web3 integrations in TypeScript/React with the Sui TypeScript SDK: wallet connection, transaction construction and signing flows, and reading on-chain state into the product UI.
Worked on staking, unstaking and LST workflows in the interface, including position and balance views.
Integrated existing Move smart contracts from the product UI (contract calls, event and state reads) — I did not author the contracts.
Architecture
- React/TypeScript frontend using the Sui TypeScript SDK for wallet connection, transaction building and on-chain reads against the protocol's deployed Move packages.
Technical decisions
- Stay at the application layer
- The contracts were owned by the protocol team; the work was to integrate them safely and make their state legible, not to change them.
- Transaction safety over speed
- With real user funds, transaction construction, confirmation states and error handling were treated as product features rather than plumbing.
Stack
- TypeScript
- React
- Sui TypeScript SDK
- Move (integration only)
Engineering challenges
- Working remotely with a distributed Web3 team on a live protocol.
- Representing staking/LST positions accurately from on-chain state.
Outcome
Completed freelance engagement (March–July 2025) on a live product; the platform is public at winterwalrus.com.
What I learned
- Application-layer Web3 work is mostly about state correctness and failure handling; the SDK is the easy part.