Get the basics of Aptos Chain in this comprehensive guide – learn all you need to know about this blockchain technology.
A thorough and comprehensive guide to Aptos blockchain, the most current Move-based blockchain built by ex-Facebook Diem engineers.
A thorough, exhaustive overview of Aptos blockchain, the popular Move-based blockchain technology developed by ex-employees of Facebook Diem.
What is the definition of Aptos?
Aptos is a blockchain platform at the first level that includes resource objects and Move as the programming language. The recently unveiled crypto project from Aptos is striving for a secure, scalable, and modifiable proof-of-stake infrastructure.
A synopsis of the past of Aptos (Diem) is presented here.
The Mainnet was finally rolled out in October 2022 to revolutionize the Web3 user experience, but the story of the project began in 2019. It all started when a tech company called Diem was taken over by a large corporation called Meta, formerly known as Facebook, as they were eager to make a stablecoin called Libra. This partnership did not go as anticipated, so in late 2021, the alliance between Facebook and Diem ended with the latter being purchased by Silvergate Capital for $182 million. Some of the employees of Diem decided to keep on with their open-source mission of developing a blockchain and thus, Aptos Labs was conceived. This was in December 2021. Aptos was formed by a group of committed leaders and engineers who believe in the potential of decentralized blockchain technology. They were provided with substantial funding from Andressen Horowitz and other Web3-focused venture capitalists, which enabled them to launch a successful devnet and a few testnets. In less than a year, the Mainnet was released, which was called Aptos “Autumn” Mainnet. A few days later, the layer 1 project added Names Services and entered into a tentative agreement with Google Cloud. The next steps in the Aptos roadmap involve (1) enticing new Web3 projects, (2) offering higher TPS and (3) making configurations and upgrades.
Group of individuals in Aptos Labs
The people running Aptos Labs, the company behind the layer 1 project, have a great amount of experience in the blockchain arena. Those working at Aptos Labs have formerly held leadership and engineering roles at Meta’s Diem blockchain, Meta’s Novi wallet, and the Move programming language. The CEO, Mo Shaikh, brings to the table a large range of understanding in capital markets, accounting, and consulting.
Obtaining financial resources for Aptos
In the initial seven months of the devnet period, Aptos managed to collect $350 million from investors. The primary investors included Andreessen Horowitz, a16z, and Multicoin, who provided an estimated $200 million. By July 2020, Aptos Labs had garnered an additional $150 million from Apollo, Griffin Gaming Partners, Franklin Templeton, Circle Ventures, and Temasek. Jump Crypto and FTX Ventures (Hacken coverage of the FTX story) were the leaders of the funding round. Binance also invested an unidentified sum in March and September 2022.
What is the mechanism behind the operation of the Aptos blockchain?
At a basic level, Aptos chain functions as a cluster of validators that employ Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT) and Proof of Stake (PoS) to process transactions. Token holders put up stakes in the validators, and the voting power of the consensus depends on the amount of the stake. Validators can be active and inactive, and Google Cloud is one of the validators. Clients can either be full nodes or light nodes. Full nodes replicate both transactions and the blockchain state, while light clients such as wallets maintain the list of validators.
Aptos TPS
As of December 2, 2022, the rate of transactions for Aptos blockchain was 8 TPS with 102 active validators, which is not that close to the promised 160,000 TPS, but still on par with the rate of other blockchains. During the 30 days of November 2022, the maximum amount of transactions was 2,107 TPS. For those interested in the technical aspects, let’s take a look at the workings of Aptos blockchain with our Smart Contract Auditor SteMak.
Move programming language
Aptos is an L1 Blockchain powered by Move. Move is an advanced and verifiable language constructed with Rust and crafted by the Diem blockchain venture. As the name suggests, Move is highly malleable and allows for custom contracts and transactions. There are two crucial components of the architecture: Move modules and Signer objects. Modules, being the code on the blockchain, don’t have any storage but can alter resources. They are capable of calling each other directly without the need for any transactions. Signer is an object created when a transaction is signed. This object is important to the security of the Aptos chain since it registers resources to accounts and verifies the credentials of the user.
The Aptos organization utilizes a specific data model for their operations.
The fundamental element of Aptos is its resources, which are not able to be replicated or discarded. By nature, module (contract) calls don’t expend resources. Every user account holds resources, allowing for decentralization. It is impossible for users to flood tokens since only the individual user can assign resources to their account.
Aptos Coin.
The APT token provides an excellent illustration of how Move resource objects operate. Before executing transfers and using modules, the signer object is used to register all coins associated with a fresh account. Aptos coin is not compatible with the ERC20 standard, which means allowance capability is not available. Fortunately, modules are able to communicate with each other directly.
The Aptos (APT) token.
The Aptos token (APT) was developed exclusively for the Aptos blockchain. Not long after the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) concluded, APT had accrued a total market capitalization of more than $1 billion. Since then, the total value of APT has stabilized to around $690 million, keeping it firmly in the Top100 cryptocurrencies.
APT tokenomics
Aptos native token with a total supply of 1 billion has the following distribution:
- Community 51.02%
- Core contributors 19%
- Foundation 16.5%
- Investors 13.48%
What is the process for obtaining Aptos tokens?
Purchasing APT is achievable through exchanges, and CoinGecko supplies a complete list of these specific markets. On December 6, there were five exchanges providing APT/USDT and APT/BUSD pairs. Prior to investing your funds, always assess the cybersecurity and economic stability ratings of the exchanges. From November 29, people have been able to purchase APT with fiat currency by way of the MoonPay integration. This includes Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. The Petra Wallet, a Chrome extension, was also created to provide a native storage and transfer system for APT, NFT creation, viewing, and dApp interaction. The wallet also contains the MoonPay fiat off-ramp.
Aptos Ecosystem.
The strength of a blockchain is dependent on its associated ecosystem. Currently, the most popular projects on Aptos are Non-Fungible Tokens and marketplaces, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms, launchpads, wallets, and other infrastructure tools. AUX Exchange, PancakeSwap, LiquidSwap, Tortuga, Ditto, Thala Labs, and Race Capital are some of the most renowned projects. Shortly after the principal launch of Aptos, the CEO, Mo Shaikh, released a few statistics. It is simple to access Aptos’ ecosystem. Individuals can explore transactions, blocks, and validators through Aptos Explorer, which has a modern user interface. Having both individual and business creators on board is essential for the continuing success of Aptos. Detailed and comprehensive white papers and Developer documentation are available for creators. Programmers can also apply for the Aptos Foundation Grant program, which has a budget of 5 million APT. The partnership with Google Cloud is a great incentive for new Web3 developers.
What sets Aptos apart from other chains?
A comparison between Aptos and Sui is being made.
Comparing Aptos and Sui is sensible considering they are both very new blockchains. The two Layer-1 networks both originate from Move-based technology and possess the same BFT agreement, objects, non-restrictive validators, concurrent running and division into full nodes and lightweight customers. With so much in common, the true determinant of success is the rate of market acceptance. At the moment, Aptos is the leading contender in this regard.
A comparison between Aptos and Solana
A few crypto analysts are confidently stating that Aptos will be the next major competitor to Solana. Both projects have a similar dream – to equip users with a rapid layer 1 blockchain. So far, Solana’s supremacy is unquestioned as it produces around 3,500 TPS while Aptos can only manage 9 TPS. In terms of capitalization, Solana is at $5 billion while Aptos is at $600 million. It is obvious that the two blockchains can work together, but Aptos has the potential to provide something more advanced. For now, Aptos is definitely leading. Sui is still in its trial period with not many validators, a smaller network, and fewer transactions.
A comparison between Aptos and Avalanche .
When we compare Avalanche blockchain to other platforms, it is more traditional and well established. Avalanche is a blockchain protocol that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine and Solidity language. AVAX, the cryptocurrency for Avalanche, is currently the 20th largest cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market capitalization. It is capable of higher throughput with an average of 24 transactions per second and 2 million transactions per day. Both Avalanche and other platforms have promising visions for the future.
A comparison between Aptos and Ethereum
Ethereum is the most significant crypto after Bitcoin, and when it comes to the figures, ecosystem, transactions, and assets, there is no comparison between the two. Currently, the new chain can only expect to take a small part of Ethereum’s market with faster transfers, higher capacity, cheaper fees, and the ability to retrieve private keys securely. Therefore, the journey has just begun for the new blockchain based on the Move protocol.
What are the drawbacks associated with Aptos?
The biggest problem is that the project has not stuck to its original word. It was originally advertised to have a throughput of 2,500 transactions per second, but it has decreased every week since then, and is currently only at a rate of 9 TPS. This has left a lot of people feeling let down. It appears that some of the leadership and organizational qualities are not up to scratch, but it’s possible that the amount of attention the project has had has been too much and lead to some issues. For instance, the APT Airdrop was not accessible to everyone due to the fact that the company had to shut down its Discord servers when it was at its busiest. Aptos Labs said it was to stop scammers, but this could have been predicted and avoided.
Aptos Smart Contract Audit process
The October launch of blockchain has brought a lot of scammers, making Aptos Airdrop vulnerable to costly mistakes. To guarantee that the code has no security breaches, it is crucial to perform a professional evaluation by a third-party entity. The Move language and its modular layout are straightforward to audit, and the programming language is based on Rust, which Hacken has a specialized group of engineers for. Cybersecurity is a key condition of blockchain’s feasibility.