Layer by Layer: A Review of Aptos Since Launch

The introduction of the Move programming language as a new tool for developing smart contracts and competitors to Solidity has been one of the emergent themes of 2022. Speculation on the reimagined revival of the social media platform Meta’s abandoned Diem project first began to ramp up earlier this year following major raises by the Move-based layer 1 (L1) projects Aptos and Sui, with both achieving multi-billion dollar implied valuations even before their mainnet launches. After running multiple incentivized testnets over the past few months beginning in May, the Aptos mainnet was deployed with little fanfare on October 12th and followed by an official announcement of the milestone on October 17th. 

The announcement’s initial lack of clarity on the token economics for APT, the Aptos chain’s native token, quickly sparked widespread confusion and frustration when several centralized exchanges then declared on the same day that they would support spot listings of the APT token within 48 hours. The Aptos team eventually released tokenomics details prior to the exchange listings, which we have covered extensively in a previous report. The chaotic lead-up to the APT token launch likely added to what was already heightened interest in the project and was accompanied by significant trading activity in the first week.