Education Ecosystem Blog

Solana was once held as the Ethereum Killer. Now, Aptos, the new blockchain on the scene is being called the Solana killer. From this, it is obvious the battle of innovation in the crypto space is at its peak.

Due to around 10 outages that hit Solana this year alone, there has been an increase in the skepticism surrounding its blockchain. Many believe it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and its prized features might just be on paper only. This has fueled the quest for a viable alternative, and Aptos appears to be the choice blockchain. With a host of venture capitalists heavily investing in Aptos, coupled with an ingenious framework, it might just be the One. In this article, we’ll be diving into Aptos, exploring its blockchain, origin and pairing it against the giant Solana.

What is Aptos?

Founded by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, former employees of Meta, Aptos Labs or Aptos appears to be a spin-off of Meta’s abandoned blockchain project, Diem. Similar to Diem, Aptos is a layer 1 blockchain operating the Proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It integrates an innovative programming language, Move, which improves both its scalability and security. Additionally, it uses a parallel execution method which aids transaction speed.

How does Aptos work?

The key to Aptos lies in a few ingenious features. The most notable is an element adopted from the Diem blockchain, Move, a programming language built by Meta. In addition to this, Aptos is equipped with a parallel execution engine, Block-STM. The common execution method for most blockchains is the sequential or serial execution. This execution method involves the continuous updating of a single history of transactions. An example of this is when a trade involving a cryptocurrency like bitcoin is completed, this transaction is recorded on a single line or blocks, which cannot be altered. 

On the other hand, parallel execution involves the simultaneous recording of transactions. This is because it runs on multiple chains, allowing the recording of more transactions. Aptos is also an infrastructure blockchain with over 30 DeFi projects in its ecosystem.

Consensus mechanism: The Aptos blockchain employs the Proof-of-Stake mechanism but with a low latency Byzanite Fault system (BFT) system. This is an anti-failure system that kicks in during situations where a node or a group of nodes begin to show malicious signs. Solana pioneered the Proof-of-history consensus mechanism and uses it simultaneously with the Proof-of-Stake system to create a hybrid network.

Smart contract language: The Aptos blockchain makes use of a novel programming language, Move. It is based on the Rust language and was originally designed for Meta’s Diem. Solana, on the other hand, makes use of Rust as its primary programming language, although C and C++ are also compatible with it.

Capacity in TPS: Aptos labs have projected that the Aptos blockchain can process up to 160,000 Transactions per second, but so far, it is yet to prove that. Solana seems to be in a similar situation as it has claimed it can process 65,000 transactions per second but only average around 3,000 TPS.

Projects: The Aptos blockchain, within a month of launching, has around 30 DeFi projects on its blockchain. When compared to Solana’s 250 projects, the difference is clear.

What is the APT token?

Aptos possesses its own native token, APT. This is used to pay for transactions, and network fees and also functions as a governance token to vote on upgrades to the blockchain. Aptos requires a specific number of tokens staked to become a validator. Being a validator on Aptos opens users up to benefits such as deciding on how rewards are shared between themselves and other stakers.

On the 19th of October, 2022, Binance announced the listing and trading of the Aptos token, APT on their platform. Additionally on Binance, APT is also listed as a borrowable asset on cross-margin and isolated margins within 48. Pairs include APT/BUSD and APT/USDT.

Additionally, users can purchase the Aptos, $APT token on the following exchanges; Binance, FTX, Coinbase Exchange, OKX, and Digifinex.

Aptos Funding

Aptos has attracted a host of investors and secured massive investments from multiple venture capitalists in the industry. In March this year, Aptos received a total of $200 million from Andreessen Horowitz (nicknamed “a16z”), Coinbase Ventures, FTX Ventures, Kathryn (Katie) Haun, and Multicoin Capital. 4 months later, in July, Aptos raised an additional $150 million from other Venture Capitalists and previous investors such as FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, a16z, Apollo, Circle Ventures, Franklin Templeton and Griffin Gaming Partners.

Is Aptos Worth Investing?

With a unique framework and promising features which seem to be attracting investment from top guns in the Crypto space, Aptos has the potential to go toe-to-toe against other crypto giants like Ethereum and Solana. According to the Aptos Explorer, the total supply of the APT token is over 1 billion, with up to 800 million tokens actively staked, which means early investors, private buyers, and the Aptos team control 80% of the token supply.

Nevertheless, Aptos with a revolutionary technology like the move programming for improved scalability and security, the Aptos blockchain has what it takes to be a prominent name in the crypto space for years to come.