International cryptocurrency exchange FTX is going to list Aptos – APT on their spot markets. But a lot of critics have come out of the woodwork calling the new listing a VC pump and Dump or ICP 2.0. We take a look at the details…
What is Aptos?
Aptos is a layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain developed by Aptos Labs, founded by core contributors of the Diem blockchain, formerly Libra developed by Meta (Facebook back in the day).
Aptos works with smart contracts, called modules, which are coded in the Move language. These are known for their high throughput in terms of transactions per second (TPS) and time to finality (TTF). Theoretically Aptos is capable of processing over 160,000 transactions per second. Which differentiates it from Bitcoin or Ethereum and any other blockchain.
| Blockchain | Ticker | TTF | Max TPS | Current TPS |
| Aptos | APT | <1 sec | 160,000 | 4,200 (on testnet) |
| Solana | SOL | 2.5 secs | 120,000 (710,000 on a 1GB network) | 2,600 |
| Avalanche | AVAX | 0.15 secs (record) 1.3-3.4 secs | 4,500 per subnet | 4.4 |
| Fantom | FTM | 1 sec | 4,500 | 7.3 |
| Ethereum | ETH | 13 minutes (2 epochs) | 45 | 11.5 |
| Bitcoin | BTC | 60 mins (6 confirmations) | 7 | 3 |
Blockchain TPS Comparison
dApps on Aptos
The Aptos ecosystem is growing rapidly and has a wide selection of protocols. Some notable projects building on Aptos include:
- Petra: Aptos wallet;
- Pontem: DeFi protocol and wallet;
- Topaz: NFT marketplace;
- Aptos Names: name registry;
- Thala Labs: over-collateralized stablecoin on Aptos.
- Hippo Finance: DeFi aggregator;
- Tsunami Finance: on-chain decentralized perpetual futures trading platform;
- Superposition: on-chain liquidity hub.
Aptos Funding
From publicly available information, Aptos Labs has raised $400 million in total from FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, a16z, Multicoin Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, Dragonfly, among others… Meaning big VC’s are behind the project. Which is not always a ‘bullish’ feature. For more info about the tokenomics visit Aptos Tokenomics Overview.
Controversy
Token Allocation
Aptos has raised $400m this year and 821,111,362.91 of the 1,000,739,234.25 APT tokens are currently staked. Meaning 80% of the token supply is controlled by the team and investors, as there were no reports of users having the possibility to earn APT.
The point is that nearly the entire token supply is going to unkown investors, because there was never a public sale or another method where users could have earned tokens. Besides the airdrop that The Aptos Foundation recently tweeted about. If you were qualified for the APT airdrop, you would get an email from airdrop@aptosfoundation.org. Something unusual regarding cryptocurrency airdrops.
TPS
Aptos promises 100k TPS in its finalized version. However, the majority of these transactions are validators communicating with eachother and setting block checkpoints on the blockchain.
Currently, Aptos has a lower tps (TPS is 4) than Bitcoin. However, some say that this is the case because the Aptos token isn’t live yet and neither are any dApps, which could move up the TPS as the dApp demand increases.
Listing Details
FTX will list Aptos (APT) spot market.
- Trading starts: October 19, 2022 at 1am (UTC)
- Trading pairs: APT/USD, APT/USDT
- Deposits and withdrawals will open by October 18, 2022 at 1pm (UTC)
Trading in cryptocurrencies involves a substantial risk of loss. Be sure to calculate and manage your risk.
