Original author: Bixin Ventures
On October 18, 2022, the Aptos mainnet was launched, marking the emergence of another important blockchain in Web3. Today, the Aptos mainnet has been running for one year. Aptos is a blockchain that is constantly iterating and growing. Engineers will continue to optimize performance, reduce costs, and enhance decentralization and security. from 2022Bixin VenturesThe results achieved by investing in Aptos so far give us reason to believe that Aptos is one of the best choices for DeFi projects.
Main points
1.DeFi shows a more open and efficient model and is the future of finance
DeFi impacts and replaces traditional finance by improving financial operating efficiency and democratizing assets, and will have huge opportunities in future development.
2. Aptos uses the Move language. According to the roadmap, it will achieve 160,000 TPS and a final block of less than 1 second. It is also low-cost and suitable for the deployment of Defi.
Use developer-friendlyMove language,passParallel execution, Diem-BFT consensus and other innovations will achieve 160,000 TPS and a final block of less than 1 second according to the roadmap, with a fee of less than0.01 cents/pen. Aptos is the lowest latency and highest throughput blockchain currently on the market (from Messari）
38,500 Followers and 200+ projects are developed on Aptos. The complete and robust infrastructure supports the development of DeFi.
Aptos has 850,000 community fans, and has wallets, browsers, security audits, Bridges, domain names, etc.basic toolsAllows developers to develop and deploy DeFi applications more conveniently
4. Multiple high-value Grants programs to support DeFi and other types of projects
Foundation Grants ProgramWith the recent launch ofRegistry ProgramAlso already started, the Registry Program provides many opportunities for developers on Aptos. Meanwhile, there are more DeFi reward programs, including those launched by Aptos and Google CloudAcceleration program, and the DeFi incentive program launched by Aptos and ThalaThala Foundry
5. There are already a large number of well-known DeFi deployments
For users, currentlyA large number of DeFi projects have been deployed,for examplePancake、Thala、Amnis Finance 、Merkle Tradeetc., and there are also things like Sushi、EconiaWill launch their mainnet in Q4
1. DeFi with unlimited potential
We all know that Web3 will change the way the world uses the Internet. But this is an area where decentralized finance is particularly revolutionary, promising to upend the opaque, centralized traditional financial system that has been built over decades.
1.1 Thunderstorms in centralized exchanges make people turn to DeFi
In a centralized exchange, users need to keep their funds in custody on the platform, that is, the user transfers the ownership of the assets to the platform. From a legal perspective, it is equivalent to lending the assets to the custody platform, and the user is the creditor of the platform. Due to the nature of centralized operations, people are also aware of the potential risks of centralized exchanges.
Why do users turn to DeFi? First, there is the security of assets. The emergence of DeFi allows users to control their own assets by holding private keys, which means that no one can misappropriate their funds, and security has been greatly improved. Secondly, users can enjoy a certain level of privacy because there is no need to provide personal information and the wallet is separated from the real identity. Third, users can experience and use a variety of Defi applications on the chain, such as DEX, stablecoins, Perp, Lending, on-chain payments, income aggregators, Liquidity Staking, etc.
1.2 As of 2021, 23.8% of adults around the world still do not have a bank account
As of 2021, according to World Bank data, the number of people over 15 years old in the world with bank accounts or mobile accounts only accounts for 76.2% of the total population, which also means that 23.8% of the worlds population (15 years old+) still does not have access to financial services. at the same time,2023 World Bank Annual ReportIt is pointed out that it is expected that 574 million people will still be in extreme poverty by 2030. Although there are many factors leading to poverty, the lack of financial services is one of the important reasons.
Proportion of global population with bank accounts in 2021 Source:World Bank Database
Based on the above reasons, we believe that the development of DeFi is not short-term, but will show a long-term positive development trend. In fact, as of October 24, 2023, DEXs 24 H trading volume was US$5 billion, which although only accounted for 1.7% of the total trading volume, increased by 42% compared to the average daily trading volume of US$3.5 billion in 2022. At the same time, the average monthly trading volume of DEX has also exceeded 10 billion US dollars.
DEX monthly average trading volume Source:Defillama & A16Z
Stablecoins, as the basic trading currency of DeFi, have also shown a trend of rapid growth. So far, the issuance scale has exceeded 120 billion US dollars. This also proves that people need a decentralized dollar asset with stable value.
On-chain stablecoin issuance scale Source:The Block、Coin Metrics、DeFillama
To carry the development of DeFi with such potential, a public chain that is safe, reliable, superior in performance, and low in cost will inevitably be needed. On this public chain, reliable and innovative DeFi applications will be cultivated. We believe that Aptos is the public chain with the most potential in the next wave of DeFi innovation.
2. Aptos is ready for the next wave of DeFi growth, and its upgradeable features ensure that Aptos continues to iterate
In the early stages,Aptos technology stackIt was designed by the top 30 blockchain engineers in the Meta team. In the following 3 years, a total of 292 developers and dozens of communities participated in the development and implementation of the protocol.Proposed improvements. Compared with other blockchains, Aptos has more obvious advantages in terms of security, scalability, fees, decentralization, and infrastructure. It is especially suitable for DeFi applications with a large number of users participating and high value content.
It should be noted that since the mainnet was launched, the Aptos team has implemented monthly upgrades to smart contracts. The team works with developers, listens to needs, and proactively solves these needs through assistance. Therefore, it will be a process of continuous improvement and iteration in terms of performance, cost, decentralization, ecology, etc. It can be expected that Aptos will undergo huge changes in the next few months or years. existAptos Improvement Proposal (AIP), you can see for yourself the sheer number of updates that have been made so far.
2.1 Move language Diem-BFT consensus can ensure that DeFi is secure enough
Aptos is different from other blockchains, but takes a different approachMove language, to ensure that the blockchain is sufficiently secure. Move language is a language specially built for digital assets, and is defined for digital assets through Resource. At the same time, four attributes of resources are abstracted: copyability, indexability, discardability, and storability. Through different combinations of these four attributes, users can easily define any type of resources. In addition, the Move language also has verifiability, flexibility and contract composability.
The security of the Move language is reflected in that, first of all, the Move language provides code verifiers and VM-level protection to avoid modifications and attacks by other programmers. Because during design, no blockchain-specific content was added to the core language. In addition, Move Prover is used to prevent errors in the process of writing smart contracts. In summary, the Move language is designed specifically for smart contract development. The Move language changes the rules of building Dapps by combining simplicity with security.
In addition, the team also designed a high-performance, low-latencyBFT engine, 4 iterations have been implemented so far. As long as BFT validator nodes ensure honesty, the Aptos chain will not be forked, whether the network is inaccessible or a non-secure core component is compromised in some way. The security of the consensus protocol is also improvedReviewandverify。
Aptos’ mainnet has produced more than 100 million blocks since its launch. In addition, weekly user transactions on Aptos reached 4.9 million in July this year and continue to rise.
Since the Aptos mainnet was launched, more than 100 million blocks have been produced. Sources:Aptos Explorer
We believe that DeFi, as the value cornerstone of the Web3 world, must rely on a sufficiently secure underlying public chain, and Aptos is one of the most correct choices for the DeFi development team.
2.2 160,000 TPS, final block less than 1 second, and transaction fees less than 0.01 cents/transaction, supporting a large number of DeFi users
Currently, the actual TPS of most blockchains is as low as double digits. But if DeFi applications want to achieve adoption by millions or tens of millions of users and average daily transactions of tens or hundreds of billions, the underlying public chain must have extremely high throughput and extremely low latency. . If the throughput of the public chain itself is insufficient, it will greatly limit the development of DeFi.
Aptos decouples consensus from execution andParallel execution, Diem-BFT consensus and other innovations have been realized160,000 TPShigh throughput. This performance ranks first among the current mainstream public chains and is significantly higher than the performance of Ethereum L2. 160,000 TPS also gives DeFi applications a broader space for development.
Aptos has extremely high throughput compared to other L1/L2 sources: official website or Explorer
Block time is also one of the main factors for DeFi developers to choose which public chain to deploy. Aptos can currently achieve a block time of less than 1 second, and will alsokeep improve. according toMessariAccording to , Aptos is the lowest latency and highest throughput blockchain on the market today.
Aptos actual block time below 1 second Source:Aptos Explorer
Mainstream L1/L2 final block time Source: Explorer of each public chain
Compared to centralized finance, expensive transaction fees often hinder DeFi user adoption. Through the continuous efforts of the Aptos team, such asSeparate execution fees and storage fees and support storage fee refunds, has currently achieved transaction fees of less than 0.01 cents/transaction, significantly reducing transaction fees for DeFi users.
Transaction fees less than 0.01 cents/transaction Source:Aptos Explorer
2.3 There are 113 validators in 25 countries and 50 cities around the world, allowing DeFi to achieve sufficient decentralization
One of the core narratives of Web3 is decentralization, and Aptos has also done a lot of work in this regard to attract more verification nodes to join the Aptos ecosystem. Fortunately, as of October 25, 2023, Aptos has implemented 113 verification nodes, located in 50 cities in 25 countries around the world, with a total value of more than 5 billion US dollars, and a total of 886,683,319 APTs are pledged in the network. Verifiers The number and geographical distribution of nodes ensures the decentralization and security of the network.
In future development, Aptos will also attract more nodes to join, making the Aptos network more decentralized and secure.
Validators around the world Source:Aptos Explorer
2.4 850,000 Followers, 200+ projects are being developed on Aptos, and complete infrastructure supports the development of DeFi
The development of DeFi applications is inseparable from the ecology of the public chain. Aptos has a large base in both the user community and the developer community. Currently, the total number of following users on Twitter, Discord, Medium, Telegram and other media is as high as 850,000, and continues to grow. There are more than 200 monthly active developers in the ecosystem, and great companies like Microsoft, Google, Mastercard and Franklin Templeton have also partnered with Aptos.
Although monthly active developers have declined so far this year due to pessimism, they are already up significantly from the beginning of 2022. And we believe that as Aptos continues to upgrade and optimize the public chain on a monthly basis, more and more developers will join.
Monthly Active Developers on Aptos Source:Developerreport
existInfrastructure, Aptos already haswallet、Browser、development tools、security audit、Bridge、domain nameand other different types of projects. DeFi developers can directly cooperate with other projects in the community, greatly reducing the cost of acquiring partners.
During Token 20249,Aptos announces partnership with Google Cloud, including running validators on Google Cloud, co-hosting accelerators and hackathons, and focusing on supporting the developer ecosystem on Aptos.
at the same time,Aptos partners with MicrosoftExploring digital payments and asset tokenization together, Aptos will also leverage Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. With Azure OpenAI, Aptos will launch Aptos Assistant, a secure and user-friendly digital assistant that can answer Aptos-related questions.
3. Multiple high-value Grants programs to support DeFi and other types of projects
In order to encourage more projects to join the Aptos ecosystem, Aptos Foundation launchedGrants for Infrastructure and Applications, to inspire Develper Toolings, SDKs, Libraries, Documentation, Guides, DeFi, NFT, Gaming and other applications, through Aptos’Apply for a linkJust submit an application. Grants range from US$5,000 to US$50,000.RegistryThere are already 7 projects listed that will be deployed on Aptos.
againstartist group, Aptos launchedArtist Grant Program, designed to support the next generation of artists in the Web3 world.
Additionally, Aptos has partnered with Google Cloudaccelerator program, the purpose of this program is to support web3 entrepreneurs and developers, and outstanding projects will receive APT token rewards and Google credits.
Most recently, Aptos and Thala announced in September this year$1 million fund, used to stimulate the development of native DeFi on Aptos, and as the supported native DeFi projects come online and grow, the fund size will be expanded to $5 million. Each project can receive a maximum reward of US$250,000. In addition to receiving bonuses, 5 outstanding projects will also receive GTM guidance, development assistance, investor introductions, etc. Come andApplyBar.
4. A large number of well-known DeFi have been deployed on Aptos
Currently, it is displayed on the Aptos official website23 Defi apps,includePancake、Thala、Merkle Trade、Amnis Finance、Sushi、Econiawait.underare some additional items.
DeFi projects on Aptos Source:Aptos Ecology
Sushi
Sushi is a DeFi project we are very familiar with. Its first Non-EVM versionSushi V2Will be deployed on Aptos in the coming weeks. Before cooperating with Aptos, Sushi was deployed on EVM chains such as Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain. This cooperation also represents the cooperation between EVM-based DeFi applications and Move-based public chains, which is very important for promoting Sushi’s cross-chain and multi-chain Chain goals are crucial and have milestone significance.
Econia
Econia implements an atomic matching engine that leverages the sub-second finality of Aptos to clear transactions the moment they are entered. From spot trading to leveraged perpetual futures, Econia pools liquidity for maximum capital efficiency.EconiaSecure, decentralized, permissionless, fully on-chain and always open source, it is the foundational layer of the next generation of DeFi and the ideal settlement engine for any digital asset.
In order to support the development of the Defi project, Aptos Labs also participated as a supporterSeed round($6.5 million) in financing. Econia will be launched in November with 4 different front ends (Kana、Pontem、Aries、SwapGPT)。
Merkle Trade
Merkle Trade is a decentralized trading platform for crypto assets, foreign exchange and commodities using a fund pool model, with leverage up to 1000 times. Its goal is to become the largest decentralized leverage trading platform and provide every user with a pleasant trading experience. .
Compared to other AMMs,Merkle TradeThe first feature is to provide a gamified experience, where users can accumulate experience points in transactions and improve their ranking on the leaderboard, while unlocking loot. Another feature is the provision of FX and commodity trading pairs, andForex trading pair feesFor as low as 0.0075%, users can trade 3 assets on one platform.
Currently, the mainnet of Merkle Trade has been launched, everyone is welcome to experience it, and there are moreawardWaiting for everyone.
Merkle Trade’s trading interface Source:Merkle Trade official website
Thala
Thala is the native DeFi protocol on Aptos and has now been launched on the mainnet. Thala has two products: stablecoin (Move Dollar) and AMM (Thala Swap). Move Dollar (MOD) is generated by over-collateralization of a basket of on-chain assets. The supported assets include LSD derivatives, LP Tokens, Deposit Receipt Tokens and RWAs.
Thala Swap is an AMM that can realize dynamic adjustment of LP and supports Weighted Pools, stable currency pools, LP bootstrap pools, etc. Thala Swap can expand the usage scenarios of MOD stablecoins. In addition, LaunchPad, built on Thala Swap, can provide individual users with a way to participate in projects early.
Last October, Thala announced the completion of$6 millionfinancing. In September this year, Thala and Aptos jointly launched a $1 millionDeFi Incubation Program, and the DeFi team is also welcomeApply。
Amnis Finance
Amnis Finance is a Liquid Staking project similar to FRAX, offering up to 7% staking returns. The model of Amnis Finance is similar to Pendle, which is to package the income assets (stAPT) into SY (standardized income token), and then split the SY token into the cost part and the income part, respectively PT (principal token) and YT ( Revenue Token), a process in which revenue is tokenized into a separate token.
Amnis FinanceMainnetCurrently online.
Amnis Finance Staking Page Source:Amnis Finance official website
