After four years of technical innovation, valuation, and fine-tuning, the Aptos blockchain finally launched its mainnet on the 17th of October, 2022. Thirteen days later, the buzz and hype that accompanied it seemed to have died.
While users can now buy Aptos (APT) tokens on popular exchanges like Binance, KuCoin, and OKX, the heavy blanket of doubt in the blockchain, fueled by an initial lack of tokenomics transparency, false advertising, and outrageous VC token allocation, has not tided over.
Despite being tagged the “Solana killer,” APT price fell by 46% the following day after the mainnet launch. According to Coingecko, the APT trading price went from a high of $13.73 to $7.4.
Although the project’s team promised that the finalized version of Aptos would be capable of handling 100k TPS, as of the 17th, it could only produce tps lower than the snail-speed Bitcoin network.
What led to the uneventful, “hype-killing” Aptos launch that brought backlash from users and crypto Twitter?
What Is Aptos?
Aptos is a layer-one blockchain created by former DIEM employees and headed by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching.
Its vision is a “blockchain that brings mainstream adoption to web3 and empowers an ecosystem of DApps to solve real-world user problems.”
With its unique programming language, Move, the blockchain intends to surpass Solana and Ethereum in terms of TPS, scalability, safety, and flexibility.
Aptos Controversial Tokenomics
Blockchain projects release whitepapers and other literature before the mainnet launch, containing vital information about the project, including tokenomics which explains how the supply of tokens is distributed, which group gets what percentage, and why.
Big names like Binance, Ethereum, and the Solana that Aptos hoped to rival did the same before operations went live.
But not Aptos.
They went about with the launch for whatever reason, and only after did they make their tokenomics public. The lack of transparency and the distribution system didn’t sit well with users on Crypto Twitter.
Some pointed to pre-launch charts that suggested Aptos tokenomics was shady and overvalued, while others referred to it as “clown tokenomics.” Investors who had already bought APT were heavily criticized for being reckless.
All in all, crypto users didn’t have it for the blockchain, which created massive FUD for investors.
The distribution model for the initial supply of 1 billion APT tokens at mainnet;
- Community 51.02%
- Core contributors 19.00%
- Foundation 16.50%
- Investors 13.48%
For better clarification, the tokenomics state that the core team and foundation hold 35.5%; Investors have 13.48%, while the community tokens, which are reserved for Aptos Labs, and the foundation have 51.02%.
Aptos recently released a tokenomics overview; however, they explained that it is only a summary, as the comprehensive explanation would be made public over the next couple of days.
Speculations are on the rise as to whether Aptos’ plan will be profitable for investors and become what it promised, “a significant player in the Layer 1 space.”
Good News From Aptos
While many will not be so quick to forgive Aptos for the “intentional” oversight it made, it seems like there might be hope for the blockchain to regain the trust of potential users.
As specific crypto Twitter netizens have said, only time and price volatility will tell if APT is a token worth buying or if the platform has any credibility to inspire migration.
Despite its rocky start and controversial tokenomics, a flurry of activities are ongoing on the chain. Between the 24th of October and the 25th, APT rallied by more than 40% to set its all-time high, although it plunged the next day again, falling by 12%.
The non-fungible token industry is the most significant achiever on the blockchain, as Aptos’ NFT marketplace, Topaz, gained $5.46 million in NFT sales during the first week of trading.
The total value locked has also risen by 614% over the last seven days, with the most significant contributors being AUX Swap and LiquidSwap.
Around thirty dApps and projects for wallets, NFTs, DeFi, infrastructure, and launchpads have shown high prospects on the blockchain. Aptos is also fingering deep in airdrops, giving potential users who might overlook the tokenomics and focus on making a profit the opportunity to get free APT.
Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh commented on the skepticism from others surrounding the blockchain’s early performance.
“Mainnet launch has gone better than expected for a brand-new network. The network reached close to 3 million transactions and peaks of over 100 TPS in under two days,” he said.
