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Aptos and Thala launch $1 million fund to foster new DeFi protocols

Crypto Ecosystems • September 27, 2023, 9:35AM EDT
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The Block

Quick Take

  • Aptos Foundation and Thala Labs have teamed up to form a $1 million fund aimed at incentivizing the creation of “Aptos-native” DeFi protocols.

  • The fund will scale to $5 million “as protocols launch and scale.”

Aptos APT -2.99% Foundation is once again making moves to spur development of its ecosystem, this time by joining forces with Thala Labs in order to create a $1 million fund geared towards the creation of new DeFi protocols.

Dubbed the Thala Foundry, the two organizations are hoping to incentivize developers to come up with “unique strategies and use cases powered by the Aptos L1 blockchain,” the two organizations said in a statement.

Thala Labs said that it will boost The Thala Foundry to $5 million as protocols go live and grow in size. The fund anticipates it will result in the launch of more than five new DeFi protocols on Aptos.

“The Thala Foundry will offer up to $250,000 per project, ensuring support for projects of various sizes and go-to-market strategies,” the statement said. “While the focus is on helping teams build and launch their products from scratch, Thala also looks forward to providing tailored support to projects that may have more advanced MVPs.”

More than $20 million in grants

So far this year, the Aptos Foundation has already announced more than $20 million in grants earmarked for artists keen to develop projects utilizing the Aptos blockchain.

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Aptos is considered by some to be a developer-friendly programming language. It was originally created inside Meta and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz.

Last year, Thala Labs raised $6 million to build on Aptos. 


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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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