Aptos: The Predicament and Reflection of a Former Star Project

In the cryptocurrency space, Aptos once garnered attention as the "next-generation L1." However, as market enthusiasm wanes, this once-promising star is facing severe challenges.

Stagnation of Ecological Growth

Aptos was launched in 2022, backed by the technical strength of the former Meta team, and at one point became a darling of the capital market. However, recent data shows that its ecological development is slowing down. The number of daily active addresses has dropped to about 1 million, with daily transactions maintaining around 3-4 million. In contrast, the Sui chain, which also uses the Move language, has seen its daily transaction volume surpass 10 million, with DEX trading volume and application revenue also significantly leading.

The reason for this growth stagnation may lie in Aptos's over-reliance on a "resource-driven" model, rather than truly meeting market demand. A large amount of resources has been used to attract well-known DeFi projects, but these projects have not brought substantial user growth. Many participants seem to be more interested in obtaining subsidies rather than having long-term confidence in the ecosystem.

Setbacks of the Ecological Support Program

Aptos recently launched the LFM program aimed at supporting ecological projects, but the airdrop event for the first member, Amnis Finance, has sparked controversy. Out of 440,000 addresses, only 10,000 were eligible for the airdrop, resulting in a large number of genuine users unable to participate. This not only exposes issues in user selection by the project team but also reflects shortcomings in Aptos's project review and community governance.

Turmoil in High Places

In the past year, Aptos has experienced a series of executive departures, including several core members such as CEO Mo Shaikh. There are rumors that these personnel changes may be related to a low-priced over-the-counter (OTC) trading incident, raising questions about the company's internal governance.

Community Feedback and Future Outlook

The development trajectory of Aptos has sparked widespread discussion within the community. Some believe that, compared to Sui, which also emerged from a major company, Aptos performs poorly in market insights, strategic planning, and ecosystem development. Some community members criticize its approach as being too rigid and lacking Web3 thinking.

Nevertheless, the success of a public blockchain relies on long-term user accumulation and ecological development. Whether Aptos can regain its momentum and break through the current predicament still needs time to verify. In the fiercely competitive L1 track, the future direction of Aptos is worth continued attention.