Source: Blockcrunch; Compiled by: 0xxz@Golden Finance
The cryptocurrency space is full of hype and short-lived trends, but Aptos is a stable foundation built for the long term. While others chase the craze, Aptos is becoming the backbone of RWA tokenization and institutional financial solutions, providing the scalability and security needed to make a lasting impact.
The Aptos blockchain was launched in 2022 and quickly attracted attention because it stood out using the Move programming language developed by Meta. It was a game-changer that solved the long-standing security and scalability issues of the EVM. This technological foundation has enabled Aptos to achieve impressive performance indicators in a short period of time and attract a diverse ecosystem of developers and institutions.
Aptos has made some impressive strides to make it one of the major networks, including:
Massive user adoption: Aptos has attracted 27 million unique users since launch, a testament to its broad appeal and user-friendly approach. That’s the equivalent of getting the entire population of New York State on board!
Source: https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/Sniper/aptos-ecosystem-overview-gjX6-N
Nearly 2 Billion Transactions: Aptos has processed nearly 2 billion transactions, demonstrating its ability to handle a wide range of real-world use cases.
Fast-growing TVL: The platform’s TVL exceeds $700 million, a 6x increase since the beginning of 2024, demonstrating growing confidence and investment in the Aptos ecosystem.
Source: https://defillama.com/chain/Aptos
Fastest L1: Aptos recently became the fastest L1 blockchain, achieving sub-second transaction speeds without increasing gas fees. With 99.99% uptime and gas fees 100x lower than comparable L1 networks, Aptos combines superior performance with cost-effectiveness, making it a leader in the blockchain space.
Advancing Global Financial Inclusion: Digital asset giant Tether recently announced plans to launch its leading stablecoin USDT on the Aptos network. This launch expands USDT’s reach in emerging markets and represents a major step toward global financial inclusion. With unparalleled transaction efficiency, low gas fees, and fast processing speeds, USDT on Aptos is expected to be ideal for both small transactions and large-scale operations, thus consolidating Aptos’ position as a key platform for digital finance.
These metrics paint a picture of a blockchain platform that is not only fundamentally sound, but also suitable for mass adoption and ready for the future.
Looking ahead, Aptos is well positioned to meet the growing demand for RWA and enterprise blockchain solutions. The numbers behind this revolution are staggering:
According to a 2022 BCG report, the global market value of illiquid asset tokenization is expected to reach US$16 trillion by 2030, accounting for 10% of global GDP.
A more conservative 2024 McKinsey analysis predicted that the total tokenized market capitalization could reach around $2 trillion by 2030.
These predictions and real-world examples highlight the huge potential of RWA tokenization. As the field continues to develop, platforms that can provide the necessary infrastructure, security, and scalability will be expected to gain widespread adoption.
In this report, we explore Aptos and its role in the RWA tokenization revolution and enterprise solutions, covering the following key topics:
1. RWA and Enterprise Solutions: Use Cases and Partnerships
2. Explore the Aptos Ecosystem: Overview of Aptos dApp Verticals
3. Technical infrastructure: sub-second latency, 99.99% uptime, and 100x lower gas fees
4. Future Impact: Assessing the potential impact of Aptos on global finance
1. RWA Project: Use Cases and Partnerships
Aptos has made significant progress in the RWA tokenization space, with innovative projects such as Ondo Finance and Propbase leading the way. These initiatives demonstrate Aptos’ ability to support complex real-world use cases and have the potential to revolutionize traditional industries.
1. Ondo Finance: Connecting Traditional Finance and DeFi on Aptos
Ondo Finance, a leader in RWA tokenization, has integrated with Aptos, marking a significant milestone in the RWA space. Aptos’ institutional-grade security, scalability, and flexibility provide an ideal foundation for processing complex financial instruments such as tokenized U.S. Treasuries.
This integration goes beyond technical implementation. With its roots in traditional finance, Ondo’s partnership with BlackRock perfectly aligns with the growing institutional interest in RWAs, positioning Aptos as the go-to destination for institutional-grade RWA solutions. By combining Ondo’s financial expertise, BlackRock’s potential support, and Aptos’ unique technology, this integration is expected to seamlessly bridge traditional finance and blockchain efficiencies, bringing new opportunities for on-chain and real-world asset integration.
The integration of Ondo and Aptos is an important step in promoting the tokenization of real-world assets on the blockchain. The main initiatives include:
USDY Integration: Ondo’s tokenized US Treasury product, USDY, is getting native integration with Aptos.
Institutional Backing: Founded by veterans of Goldman Sachs’ Digital Assets team, Ondo brings institutional-grade expertise to the Aptos ecosystem and works closely with renowned firms such as BlackRock.
Security and Efficiency: Aptos' Move programming language, with features such as Move Prover and pre-trade transparency, provides an ideal foundation for Ondo's secure and efficient financial products.
Ecosystem Expansion: Ondo has also integrated with DeFi protocol Thala on Aptos to enhance liquidity options and introduce USDY as collateral for CDPs.
By choosing Aptos, Ondo validates Aptos’ potential in the RWA space and lays the foundation for future innovation in tokenized assets and yield products.
2. Propbase: Democratizing real estate investing
Source: https://x.com/PropbaseApp/header_photo
One of the most prominent RWA projects on Aptos is Propbase, a tokenized real estate trading platform that aims to transform real estate into a modern, liquid asset class. Propbase’s tokenization process is a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that combines traditional real estate practices with blockchain technology.
The entire process starts with a token application, where a real estate developer submits an asset for tokenization. This is followed by a thorough due diligence phase and formal onboarding of the asset, ensuring that all legal requirements are met, and an external audit is conducted to provide an additional layer of verification.
Once approved, the Propbase Web3 DApp (secured by the system administrator using an ECDSA private key) generates a real estate token. The token is then listed on the platform, allowing investors to participate. Once the soft cap is reached, ownership is transferred to the winning bidder, proceeds are distributed via smart contracts, and the entire process is recorded on the registered blockchain, providing transparency and immutability.
Propbase is unique in that token holders can sell and trade assets directly on the platform, creating a liquid market for traditionally illiquid real estate assets. This complex yet user-friendly system demonstrates how Aptos’ blockchain infrastructure can support complex real-world financial operations, with the potential to revolutionize the real estate investment landscape.
Source: https://medium.com/@Propbase/hello-world-were-propbase-c5aa3b000ca6
How Propbase is using Aptos’ blockchain to revolutionize real estate investing:
Instant Liquidity: Unlike traditional real estate investing, Propbase allows users to buy and sell real estate shares within minutes through its P2P marketplace.
Source: https://medium.com/@Propbase/hello-world-were-propbase-c5aa3b000ca6
Fractional Ownership: Propbase allows investors to purchase shares of a property for as little as $100, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for real estate investing.
Global Accessibility: The platform focuses on high-quality assets in Southeast Asia and plans to expand to the Middle East and North Africa, the United States and the European Union, providing investors from all over the world with global diversification opportunities after KYC.
Smart Contract Integration: Propbase leverages Aptos smart contract capabilities to automate processes such as rental yield distribution, thereby increasing efficiency and transparency. It also uses the Aptos blockchain as its registry, recording an immutable history of every transaction for every property and minimizing administrative overhead, as investors do not need to update the registry when they make transactions.
Regulatory Compliance: The project operates within a legal and regulatory framework, all property is securely stored in a limited liability company, and ownership documents are publicly available on the blockchain.
Source: https://medium.com/@Propbase/hello-world-were-propbase-c5aa3b000ca6
The Propbase tokenization model demonstrates how Aptos can support complex real-world applications, handling everything from real estate applications and audits to tokenization and market listings. This end-to-end solution demonstrates the potential of Aptos to transform traditionally illiquid assets into easily tradable digital tokens.
3. Libre: Bringing blockchain-based funds to the chain
Source: http://x.com/avtarsehra
Libre, a joint venture between Brevan Howard’s WebN Group and Nomura’s Laser Digital, has officially launched on the Aptos network. The integration allows institutional investors to trade tokenized real-world assets (RWA) on the Aptos blockchain.
Through Aptos Labs' Aptos Ascend, institutional investors using the Libre Gateway gain access to the reliability and compliance of the traditional financial system with the decentralization, scalability, and security of the Aptos blockchain. This enables seamless on-chain trading, collateralized lending, and secondary market activity while ensuring institutional-grade efficiency and security. This integration highlights Aptos' role as the leading platform connecting TradFi and DeFi, bringing the financial world to the chain.
4. Franklin Templeton: Decentralized Asset Management
Source: https://x.com/Aptos/status/1841470047598084404
Global asset management giant Franklin Templeton recently announced the launch of its on-chain money market fund FOBXX on the Aptos network. Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX, represented by the BENJI token on Aptos, has surpassed $20 million in subscriptions – a sign of rising institutional blockchain adoption. The partnership with the Aptos Foundation aims to increase interoperability between real-world assets (RWAs) and treasury-backed assets in non-EVM blockchain environments, such as those using Move.
Notably, Franklin Templeton is the second-largest tokenized fund by market capitalization and the first and only fund to utilize blockchain technology for transaction processing.
2. Enterprise Projects: Use Cases and Partnerships
1. Microsoft and Aptos Labs: Groundbreaking Integration of AI and Web3
Source: https://aptosfoundation.org/currents/aptos-microsoft-expanding-web3-global-access
Microsoft, a leader in AI technology, has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with Aptos Labs, a team dedicated to developing products and applications on the Aptos blockchain. The combination of Microsoft’s deep expertise in AI and cloud computing and Aptos Labs’ innovative approach to blockchain creates a powerful synergy.
The collaboration is uniquely positioned because of Aptos’ high throughput capabilities, which can currently process up to 13,000 transactions per second, all in sub-seconds. This performance is critical for AI-related applications that require fast data processing and validation.
By leveraging Microsoft’s AI prowess and Aptos’ blockchain technology, the partnership aims to increase the credibility of AI-generated content while simplifying web3 development for a wider audience.
Microsoft's collaboration with Aptos Labs is currently focused on the following areas:
Financial Services Solutions: Explore use cases including asset tokenization, payments, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), showcasing the potential of integrating AI and web3 in the financial sector.
Enhanced development tools: Integration with GitHub Copilot to support Move programming language development, including contract development, unit testing, formatting, and prover specifications.
Blockchain Infrastructure: Improve tools and support for validators to run efficiently on Azure cloud infrastructure, enhancing the security and reliability of the Aptos network.
AI model training and verification: Use Aptos blockchain data to enhance the reliability and credibility of AI-generated content, and solve AI perception problems through the transparency and security of blockchain.
By working with Aptos Labs, Microsoft validates Aptos’ potential in the field of AI and lays the foundation for future innovation at the intersection of AI and web3. This collaboration represents an important step towards creating a more transparent, efficient, and accessible digital ecosystem that combines the power of artificial intelligence with the trust and security of blockchain technology.
As Rashmi Misra, General Manager of AI and Emerging Technologies at Microsoft, said: “The intersection of AI and blockchain is one of the most interesting combinations of emerging technologies and can produce transformative use cases.” The collaboration aims to democratize the use of blockchain, enable seamless access to web3 and foster innovation in decentralized applications using artificial intelligence.
This collaboration between Microsoft and Aptos Labs promises to redefine the landscape of digital experiences, making web3 more accessible and user-friendly while maintaining the highest standards of security and performance.
2. Aptos Ascend: Revolutionizing Institutional Finance
Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/292569/embracing-the-open-future-of-finance-with-aptos-ascend
Earlier this year, Aptos Labs launched the Aptos Ascend platform, which simplifies the deployment of blockchain solutions for financial institutions to improve the way they create, deploy and manage financial products. This groundbreaking initiative leverages collaborations with industry giants such as Microsoft Azure, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Brevan Howard and SK Telecom.
Aptos Labs and its partners through Aptos Ascend are currently focusing on the following areas:
Advanced Digital Asset Controls: Enhance security and compliance using zero-knowledge proofs to restrict transactions to pre-approved entities.
Sophisticated Network Controls: Provides a fully permissioned network with customizable capabilities, allowing institutions to tailor governance and access controls.
High-Performance Infrastructure: Leverage Aptos’ scalability to process millions of transactions per day and meet the demands of modern finance.
Innovative financial products: Explore use cases such as asset tokenization and develop new lending practices within regulatory frameworks.
Strategic Partnership: Combining BCG’s network, Brevan Howard’s investment expertise, and SK Telecom’s regulatory-compliant Web3 technology to expand decentralized finance to institutional capital.
This move by Aptos Labs and its partners aims to redefine the institutional financial landscape by making blockchain technology easier for traditional financial entities to use and benefit from, while maintaining the highest standards of security and regulatory compliance.
3. Overview of Aptos Ecosystem
The Aptos blockchain has attracted a vibrant ecosystem, hosting a wide range of decentralized applications (dApps) across various verticals. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the key verticals thriving on Aptos, including DeFi, Gaming, NFTs, and Social Apps.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
DeFi applications on Aptos leverage the high throughput and low latency of blockchain to provide financial services that rival traditional systems in speed and efficiency. Let’s explore some notable dApps in this category.
1. Aries Markets: Lending Market and More
Source: https://ariesmarkets.xyz/
Aries Markets, the pioneer lending marketplace on Aptos, recently hit the 1 million user milestone. By positioning itself as a comprehensive all-in-one DeFi solution, it solves the fragmentation problem that often occurs in the DeFi ecosystem. How? By combining lending and margin trading on a single platform.
Aries even has a unique feature called sub-accounts for risk isolation, aiming to provide a centralized exchange (CEX) experience within a decentralized framework.
Key features of Aries Markets:
Borrowing:
Overcollateralized lending
Users can deposit assets to earn yield or borrow against collateral
Margin Trading:
Provide spot margin trading
Users can leverage asset liquidity using funds borrowed from shared liquidity pools
Token Swap:
Integration with various automated market makers (AMM) markets
Enable efficient token exchange within the platform
Risk Management:
Unique sub-account function to isolate risks
Allows users to manage multiple trading strategies separately
Security and Reliability:
Take advantage of Move's safety features and tools
Leveraging coverage testing and formal verification to achieve institutional-grade security
Market Position:
Total locked value (TVL): $618 million+
The number of users recently exceeded 1 million
Technical advantages:
Built on Aptos, benefiting from its high throughput and low latency
Demonstrate how Aptos can support complex DeFi applications, enabling them to compete with centralized alternatives
Source: https://defillama.com/protocol/aries-markets#yields
With a TVL of over $250 million, Aries Markets’ rapid growth and comprehensive product offering demonstrates the potential of the Aptos ecosystem to support sophisticated, user-friendly DeFi applications. Its success in attracting liquidity and users highlights the growing adoption of DeFi solutions built on high-performance blockchains such as Aptos.
2. Thala: Liquidity Staking Super App
Source: thalalabs.xyz
Thala Protocol is a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem on Aptos, especially outstanding in liquidity staking. While Thala offers a variety of products, including stablecoins (Move Dollar) and AMMs (Thala Swap), its Liquidity Staking Derivatives (LSD) solution is the cornerstone of its products.
Key features of Thala Liquidity Staking:
Dual Token Model:
thAPT: A non-revaluing token pegged 1:1 to APT
sthAPT: A repricing token that accumulates staking returns
Enhanced profit distribution:
sthAPT receives 100% of its own validator rewards plus 80% of thAPT validator rewards
This model may provide higher returns compared to traditional LSD solutions
Flexible staking options:
Users can choose instant liquidity (thAPT) or maximize yield (sthAPT)
Incentive Structure:
20% of thAPT validator rewards will incentivize the thAPT-APT liquidity pool on Thala Swap
This mechanism helps manage thAPT supply and maintain its peg
Fee Structure:
0.15% Redemption Fee (thAPT to APT)
0.01% Staking Fee (thAPT to sthAPT)
Staking reward commission is 5% (12% total including validator commission)
Integration with the broader DeFi ecosystem:
Both thAPT and sthAPT can be used in other Thala products as well as in the Aptos DeFi space.
Source: https://defillama.com/protocol/thala
With a TVL of over $200 million, Thala’s innovative approach to liquidity staking demonstrates the growing sophistication of DeFi applications on Aptos. The protocol’s ability to offer higher yields while maintaining liquidity highlights how Aptos’ high-performance infrastructure can support complex financial products that rival traditional financial products.
3. Cellana: Ve(3,3) DEX and Launchpad
Source: cellana.finance
Cellana is an outstanding decentralized exchange (DEX) that pioneered the implementation of the Ve(3,3) model in the Move language. This community-owned platform aims to promote the growth of DeFi and utilizes a sustainable liquidity incentive model. Through these innovations, Cellana positions itself as an important liquidity pillar in the thriving Aptos ecosystem.
Key features of Cellana:
Ve(3,3) Model of Sustainability:
The first Ve(3,3) DEX on Aptos, inspired by successful projects like Aerodrome
Balancing LP incentives with governance token holders’ income
Solving the problems faced by traditional DEX
Balancing token issuance with long-term price stability
Community-driven governance:
Empowering the community to influence token issuance and incentives
Allow projects to add their own incentives to liquidity pools to attract LPs
Innovative fee structure:
Transaction fees are paid directly to voters (CELL token holders)
CELL issuance attracts and rewards liquidity providers
New Project Launchpad:
Providing a platform for emerging protocols to bootstrap liquidity
Supporting established protocols through cost-effective liquidity incentives
Ecosystem Integration:
Committed to becoming the DeFi leader on Aptos
Providing a gateway for protocols seeking innovative liquidity solutions
Source: https://defillama.com/protocol/cellana-finance#information
Cellana’s TVL exceeds $70 million, making it the DEX with the highest TVL, demonstrating that the successful implementation of the Ve(3,3) model gives it an advantage over traditional DEXs. By addressing common challenges in liquidity provision and token economics, Cellana aims to create a more sustainable and efficient DeFi ecosystem on Aptos.
4. Merkle Trade: Gamified Derivatives
Merkle Trade is a groundbreaking gamified perpetual contract platform. It uniquely combines high leverage trading, gamification elements, and user-friendly experience to make derivatives trading easy for users of all experience levels.
Source: http://x.com/Merkle_Trade
Merkle Trade's main features:
Diverse trading options:
Providing cryptocurrency, forex and commodities (gold and silver) trading
High leverage, up to 1,000x (150x for cryptocurrencies, up to 1,000x for forex)
Advanced trading infrastructure:
Sub-second order execution, fair pricing, and minimal slippage
Achieving low latency performance with Aptos
Decentralized, non-custodial transactions, no counterparty risk
Price information from Pyth Network for accurate and decentralized pricing
Charting solutions powered by TradingView
Gamified trading experience:
Bi-weekly trading seasons with unique themes and rewards
Upgrade system provides trading advantages for equippable items (NFT)
Weekly trading missions with different difficulty levels and rewards
Loot box system with Merkle Gears and Shards as potential loot
Seasonal Deals Bonus Points System
Innovative liquidity provision:
Merkle LP acts as the counterparty for each transaction
The synthetic trading model allows any asset with reliable price information to be listed
Soft and hard thresholds to prevent sudden liquidity depletion
Low voltage circuit breakers as an additional layer of safety
Merkle Trade enables gamified derivatives trading on Aptos, demonstrating the ability of blockchain to support complex financial products with high performance requirements. By combining advanced trading features with engaging gamification elements, Merkle Trade aims to create a more convenient and enjoyable trading experience, thereby attracting a wider user base to participate in decentralized derivatives trading on Aptos.
5. Echo: Aptos is the first to launch Bitcoin liquidity re-mortgage, bridging and lending services
Source: echo-protocol.xyz
Echo is a breakthrough protocol that brings Bitcoin liquidity restaking, bridging, and yield infrastructure to the Aptos ecosystem, marking a major milestone in cross-chain interoperability and yield generation.
The main features of the Echo protocol are:
Secure Bitcoin Deposits:
Echo seamlessly connects uBTC assets to the Aptos ecosystem, extending the utility of BTC in a high-performance blockchain environment
Echo solves the trusted bridge problem by re-staking BTC through a hash time-lock contract on Bitcoin Layer 1, ensuring high reliability. The decentralized, community-based relay system further ensures the security of the bridge process.
Liquidity re-staking:
Users can stake their bridged Bitcoin assets to earn yield and receive LRT tokens, maintaining liquidity while participating in network security
Yield Infrastructure: Echo provides a comprehensive yield generation platform that allows users to earn rewards in a variety of ways:
Transfer uBTC assets from Bitcoin to Echo (earn Echo and B2 Points)
Depositing aBTC on Echo Lend can increase APT yield by up to 12%
Staking earns APT to earn extra Echo points and 7% staking rewards
Source: https://defillama.com/protocol/echo-protocol#information
Echo currently has a TVL of over 2,000 BTC, valued at over $160 million. Its integration with Aptos demonstrates the blockchain's ability to support complex cross-chain operations and innovative DeFi products. By bringing the massive market value of Bitcoin into the Aptos ecosystem, Echo opens up new opportunities for new user groups, sustainable yield generation, and capital-efficient asset utilization.
This collaboration not only enhances Aptos’ DeFi offering, but also positions it as a key player in the broader blockchain interoperability space, from BTC to EVM and non-EVM chains. As the cryptocurrency industry moves toward greater cross-chain collaboration, Aptos is proving itself to be at the forefront of this development, able to support complex protocols that connect traditionally isolated blockchain networks.
Games, NFTs, and Social dApps on Aptos
Aptos has become a thriving ecosystem for games, NFT projects, and social dApps, leveraging the network’s high performance and user-friendly features to create engaging experiences. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the standout projects in this vertical.
6. Aptos Monkeys: The most popular NFT series on Aptos
Source: https://wapal.io/collection/Aptos-Monkeys
Aptos Monkeys has quickly become one of the most popular and influential NFT series on Aptos. Launched in October 2022, the series consists of 10,000 unique monkey avatars that have captured the imagination of people in the Aptos community and beyond. With over 150 traits ensuring each monkey is unique, Aptos Monkeys has created a strong sense of community and exclusivity, with an active Discord server of over 30,000 members.
The project’s success is reflected in market performance, with the reserve price hovering around 20 APT and a total trading volume of approximately 600,000 APT. This success demonstrates the potential of NFT projects on Aptos, while also proving the blockchain’s ability to efficiently handle large volumes of transactions.
7. Wapal: The largest NFT market on Aptos
Source: wapal.io
Wapal has become the largest NFT marketplace on Aptos, revolutionizing the way digital assets are bought, sold, and traded.
With $2 million in total trading volume, the platform has become the top destination for NFT enthusiasts on Aptos. But it’s not just about volume — Wapal has fostered a thriving community of traders. The marketplace has 270,000 unique buyers and 200,000 unique sellers, a testament to its broad appeal and user-friendly interface. The platform has executed a total of 700,000 trades, listing 260,000 unique NFTs, showcasing the Aptos blockchain’s ability to easily handle high-volume, low-latency transactions.
Source: https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/Azin/wapal-WQzqCp
This level of activity is a testament to the popularity of NFTs on Aptos and the strength of its technology to manage such a high throughput.
8. Aptos Arena: Creating the future of Aptos gaming
Source: aptosarena.xyz
Aptos Arena is a game changer with its pragmatic skill-based approach that combines shooters with cryptocurrency rewards. Pay a small entry fee to spawn and play against other players. If you kill them, you can deposit their entry fee directly into your wallet.
The cool thing about Aptos Arena is how easy it is to join. No fancy gaming rig required - just fire up a browser on your phone, Mac, or PC, put some Aptos tokens in your wallet, and you're ready to go. No expensive NFTs required.
It’s not a pay-to-win game either. Whether you’re a crypto tycoon or just starting out, everyone has an equal chance to make some money while playing.
Aptos Arena shows the true power of the Aptos blockchain. Fast-paced action, real-time rewards, all made effortless. It sets the standard for Web3 gaming - fun, fair, and potentially profitable.
9. Kade: Social media gets a blockchain makeover
Source: http://x.com/0xkade
Enter Kade, a social network built on Aptos that is reimagining the way we interact online. Imagine Instagram or Twitter, but with a blockchain twist: all key elements are on-chain. This means that everything from posts to usernames (funny enough, usernames are actually NFTs) is recorded on the blockchain. Furthermore, even interactions like likes, follows, and DMs are permanently etched on the Aptos blockchain.
Kade is also building an off-chain indexer called “docks” that takes on-chain data, processes events, and saves it to a relational database via an API to facilitate querying of that data.
Kade shows us what social media could look like in a Web3 world. It takes the features we love about regular social apps and adds the extra ownership and transparency that blockchain brings. It gives us a glimpse into the future where you have more control over your online presence and your data isn’t just sitting around on some company’s servers.
So if you use Aptos and are curious about the future of social media, Kade is worth keeping an eye on. Who knows? You might end up liking your social life more on the blockchain.
Aptos Ecosystem Accelerator: Movementum Accelerator
Source: aptosbuilder.io
The Aptos Foundation is actively promoting innovation and development within the Aptos ecosystem and recently launched the Movementum accelerator program, dedicated to supporting Web3 innovators in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Movementum Accelerator has a total funding pool of $1 million, and finalists can receive up to $150,000 in awards and funding. Teams will receive customized mentoring training from experts on important topics such as product development, legal considerations, financing, and listing strategies. They will also be introduced to more than 200 venture capital firms, communities, and partners to streamline the team's financing and strategic cooperation process.
The program targets projects in infrastructure, gaming, DeFi, CeFi, and other innovative blockchain applications.
4. Interpretation of Aptos Technical Infrastructure
At the heart of Aptos’ outstanding performance lies its innovative use of the Move programming language and unique blockchain architecture. This combination enables Aptos to achieve unparalleled speed, security, and cost-effectiveness in the blockchain space.
For readers coming from Ethereum, here is a cheat sheet explaining the similarities and differences between Ethereum and Aptos.
Source: https://aptos.dev/en/build/get-started/ethereum-cheatsheet
Move Programming Language
At the heart of Aptos’ technical prowess lies Move, a programming language originally developed by Meta (formerly Facebook) for the Libra blockchain. As a statically typed language, Move was designed with security and flexibility in mind, making it particularly well suited for digital asset management.
Resource-Oriented Programming in Move:
1. First-class citizens: In Move, resources (representing digital assets such as tokens or NFTs) are treated as basic data types, similar to how integers or strings are handled in other languages. This means they have full language support and can be used in all parts of the program.
2. Linear logic: Resources in Move can only be moved, not copied or implicitly discarded. This ensures that digital assets will not be accidentally copied or lost.
3. Clear resource management: Programmers must explicitly create, transfer, or destroy resources to make asset flow clear and reduce errors.
4. Type safety: The Move compiler enforces strict rules on how resources can be used, preventing many common smart contract vulnerabilities at compile time.
Practical significance:
Prevention of double spending: In Move, if a token is transferred, it is automatically removed from the sender’s account. It is impossible to spend the same token twice, either accidentally or maliciously.
Asset security: Resources cannot be accidentally lost or destroyed without being explicitly programmed.
Intuitive asset representation: Developers can model complex digital assets more naturally, resulting in clearer, more secure code.
Compile-time guarantees: Many errors that would be runtime problems in other languages are caught at compile time in Move.
Comparing Move to other programming paradigms:
This resource-oriented approach in Move provides a more intuitive and secure way to handle digital assets, reducing the risk of many common blockchain vulnerabilities by design. Here is a comparison of Move with two popular blockchain languages, Solidity and Rust.
Smart contract languages (such as Ethereum’s Solidity):
Similarities: Both are designed for blockchain environments and digital asset management.
Difference: Solidity relies more on developer discipline to prevent issues like double spending, while Move enforces these rules at the language level.
Systems programming languages (such as Rust):
Similarity: Rust's ownership system is conceptually similar to Move's handling of resources.
Difference: Move’s resource system is more focused on digital assets and blockchain use cases.
Aptos’ blockchain architecture
Aptos leverages Move in a novel blockchain architecture. Let’s take a closer look at what makes Aptos unique and different from traditional blockchains.
Block-STM (Software Transactional Memory)
At the core of the Aptos blockchain architecture is Block-STM, a component that enables parallel execution of transactions. This feature significantly increases the throughput of the network, making Aptos stand out from its competitors.
Key Features:
Parallel execution: Unlike traditional blockchain systems that process transactions sequentially, Block-STM allows multiple transactions to be executed simultaneously. Since modern computers have multiple cores, Block-STM takes advantage of this and uses all available processing power instead of just a small portion. This is like having multiple cashiers in a store, each serving a different customer at the same time.
Speculative execution: Transactions are executed speculatively, assuming that they will not conflict with other concurrent transactions. Imagine a store with multiple cashiers, each serving a different customer at the same time.
Conflict Resolution: If a conflict is detected during execution, Block-STM efficiently resolves the conflict and re-executes only the necessary transactions. For example, if two chefs are using the same ingredient, Block-STM will identify this and re-execute only the conflicting transactions instead of the entire block.
Memory access tracking: The system tracks the read-write sets of each transaction and uses this information to detect and resolve conflicts.
Working principle:
Grouping: Transactions are bundled into blocks.
Distribution: Each transaction is dynamically distributed to a different “worker” (think of it as a separate processor) for optimal performance.
Parallel processing: All workers process their transactions simultaneously and keep track of the data they are working with.
Validation: Once processed, the system checks if there are any conflicts between transactions.
Conflict Resolution: If conflicts are found, only those specific transactions are redone.
benefit:
High throughput: Up to 160,000 transactions per second can be processed under optimal conditions.
Efficient resource utilization: Take full advantage of multi-core processors.
Scalability: Performance scales with the number of available CPU cores.
Accessibility: Unlike static parallel execution, users do not need to specify any transaction information.
Recently, Aptos Labs released Block-STM v2, which will change the way Web3 thinks about parallel execution. The industry-leading parallel execution Block-STM v2 is designed to scale efficiently on 256-core machines while improving parallel transaction processing and increasing throughput. This dynamic infrastructure allows Aptos to maintain low gas fees (about $0.00005/transaction) even under tremendous network pressure. Block-STM has set the standard for safe and simple parallel execution in the Aptos ecosystem and beyond, and has been adopted by Polygon, Sei, Monad, Starknet, Flow, and other companies that recognize this innovative scalability and performance.
Optimistic concurrency control
Optimistic Concurrency Control (OCC) works together with Block-STM to achieve the high-performance architecture of Aptos.
Key concepts:
Optimistic execution: Execute transactions assuming that they will not conflict, without acquiring locks.
Version control: Each data item has a version number, which is used to detect conflicts.
Verification phase: After execution, the transaction is checked for conflicts based on its read-write sets.
Commit or Abort: Commit transactions without conflicts; Abort transactions with conflicts and re-execute.
advantage:
Reduced locking overhead: Improved performance in low-contention scenarios.
Improved parallelism: Allows for higher concurrency compared to the pessimistic approach.
Deadlock prevention: Eliminate the possibility of deadlock in lock-based systems.
The diagram illustrates how multiple transactions are grouped into blocks, each with its own timestamp. Each transaction is associated with a digest (unique identifier), a timestamp, and a proof-of-availability vector (PoAV). This structure allows for efficient parallel processing and conflict resolution, which are key features of the Aptos high-performance architecture.
Source: https://aptosfoundation.org/whitepaper/aptos-whitepaper_en.pdf
Modular architecture
Aptos’ modular architecture works like a well-oiled machine, with each part doing its job. By placing consensus and execution in different corners, this setup brings some significant benefits:
Element:
Consensus layer: responsible for ordering transactions and reaching agreement on the state of the blockchain.
Execution layer: Use Block-STM to handle parallel execution of transactions.
Storage layer: manages blockchain state and transaction history.
benefit:
Flexibility: Allows each component to be optimized and upgraded independently.
Scalability: Support for future sharding to achieve horizontal scalability.
Specialization: Each layer can be optimized for its specific function without affecting other layers.
Performance synergy
The combination of Block-STM, optimistic concurrency control, and modular architecture gives Aptos impressive performance metrics:
Sub-second finality: Transactions are confirmed in less than a second, comparable to traditional payment systems.
High throughput: Under optimal conditions, Aptos can process up to 160,000 transactions per second (TPS).
Low Gas Fees: Fees are 100 times lower than similar L1 networks.
99.99% uptime: Ensure critical applications run reliably.
Comparison with other blockchain architectures
Ethereum: Sequential execution limits throughput. Ethereum 2.0 aims to improve this through sharding, but still cannot match the native parallelism of Aptos.
Solana: Also uses parallel processing, but with a different approach (Gulf Stream). Aptos’ Block-STM may provide better conflict resolution.
Algorand: Focuses on fast consensus, but does not have the level of parallel transaction execution of Aptos.
Aptos' Security Advantages
In the wild west of cryptocurrency, security is not only important, it’s the difference between success and failure. We’re talking about assets worth billions of dollars, and hackers have stolen huge ransoms through various vulnerabilities. Let’s learn how Aptos solves the security challenges posed by other blockchains.
Resource Security
Resource security ensures that digital assets (such as tokens or NFTs) cannot be accidentally or maliciously copied or destroyed. This feature has already been mentioned when discussing the Move programming language.
Module Isolation
Module isolation limits how different parts of your code can interact with each other, reducing the potential attack surface.
This is achieved by organizing the code into modules with clear boundaries. Each module controls its own data and defines how other modules interact with it. Importantly, direct access to the internal state of a module is prohibited unless explicitly allowed.
This limits the spread of potential vulnerabilities, makes code auditing easier, and allows for more modular and maintainable smart contracts.
Source: https://aptosfoundation.org/whitepaper/aptos-whitepaper_en.pdf
Formal Verification
Formal verification is a technique that mathematically proves that a program behaves correctly according to its specification.
Developers can write formal specifications for their smart contracts. Automated tools can then verify that the code complies with these specifications. This process can catch subtle bugs that traditional testing might miss.
This greatly increases confidence in critical smart contracts and is especially valuable for high-risk financial applications as it can catch complex edge case bugs before deployment.
The synergy of these features
Together, these security features create a robust environment for blockchain development:
Resource security ensures that assets are handled correctly.
Module isolation contains potential issues and simplifies auditing.
Formal verification provides mathematical certainty about the behavior of a contract.
This combination addresses many of the vulnerabilities that plague other blockchain platforms, making Aptos an attractive choice for security-critical enterprise and financial applications.
Comparison with other blockchain platforms
Ethereum (Solidity): Lacks native resource security and module isolation. Formal verification is possible, but difficult.
Cardano (Plutus): Offers similar security features but has a steeper learning curve.
Rust-based chains (e.g. Solana): provide memory safety, but lack Move’s specific optimizations for blockchain use cases.
The Move security features in Aptos represent a significant advancement in blockchain security, addressing many of the vulnerabilities that have led to serious hacks and losses on other platforms.
Future Directions
Looking ahead, the minds behind Aptos clearly have their eyes on the future. Their architecture isn’t just built for today, but for tomorrow.
Here’s what we might expect:
Sharding: The modular design allows for potential sharding, allowing for greater scalability.
Hardware Optimization: As hardware improves, Aptos can take advantage of the increased cores and memory to achieve better performance.
Adaptive Execution: Future versions may dynamically adjust execution strategies based on trading patterns.
This architecture positions Aptos as a highly scalable and efficient blockchain platform capable of meeting the needs of enterprise-level applications and large-scale DeFi operations.
5. Conclusion: Aptos has unique advantages and will become the blockchain of RWA and the future of finance
Looking ahead to the future of blockchain technology, Aptos stands out as a strong contender in the race to become the premier platform for real-world assets (RWA) and institutional solutions. With its strong technology foundation, growing ecosystem, and strategic integrations, Aptos is well positioned to capture a significant share of the thriving RWA market, which is expected to reach trillions of dollars by 2030.
Aptos' achievements speak for themselves:
A thriving user base of 22 million unique users
Total locked value (TVL) is approximately $550 million, having nearly quadrupled since the beginning of 2024
Processed over 1 billion transactions, demonstrating strong network activity
These metrics highlight Aptos’ rapid growth and adoption, laying the foundation for its expansion into RWA tokenization and institutional blockchain solutions.
The Aptos blockchain's innovative use of the Move programming language, coupled with its high-performance architecture with Block-STM and optimistic concurrency control, enables Aptos to deliver unparalleled speed, security, and cost-effectiveness. With sub-second finality, 99.99% uptime, and 100x lower gas fees than comparable L1 networks, Aptos is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of institutional-grade applications.
Strategic initiatives such as Aptos Ascend, developed by Aptos Labs in partnership with industry giants such as Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group and Brevan Howard, are designed to position blockchain as a bridge between traditional finance and the world of decentralized technology. This financial suite for institutions reflects Aptos’ commitment to meeting the complex needs of enterprise clients while retaining the benefits of blockchain technology.
In the RWA space, integrations with projects such as Ondo Finance and Propbase demonstrate Aptos’ potential to revolutionize asset tokenization, from U.S. Treasuries to real estate. This not only demonstrates Aptos’ capabilities, but also paves the way for broader adoption of blockchain technology in traditional finance.
As the blockchain landscape evolves, Aptos' combination of technical prowess, strategic partnerships, and a vibrant ecosystem spanning DeFi, gaming, NFTs, and social applications puts it at the forefront of the next wave of blockchain innovation. With a focus on scalability, security, and real-world utility, Aptos is not only participating in the future of finance, but actively shaping it.
