Ex-Meta Employees Launch Aptos, a New Layer 1 Chain

The most popular Layer 1 chains like Ethereum all attempt to address three key issues: scalability, decentralization, and security. Bitcoin, for example, aims to optimize decentralization in security, but compromises on scalability. Layer 2s build off Layer 1 chains to improve the scalability and speed of transactions. As a result, many Layer 2 protocols have, emerged in the past few years to enhance the capability of existing Layer 1 chains.

This begs the question: Do we need another L1? Or, are the continuous upgrades made to current L1s sufficient to match market demand (e.g. Eth 2.0)?

Last month, ex-Meta employees launched Aptos, a revival of Facebook’s failed attempt at a stablecoin, Diem. Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain that focuses on scalability using Move, a Rust-based programming language. Using the company’s parallel execution engine (Block-STM), the network can process over 160k transactions per second, significantly reducing transaction costs. For comparison, under its current infrastructure, Ethereum can only handle about 20 TPS. Even more underwhelming, Bitcoin processes 7 transactions per second on average. These older
technologies are heavily inefficient and infinitely less scalable than what the team at Aptos is attempting to develop.

Aptos’ CEO, Mo Shaikh said that they’ve “known for a while that, due to issues like outages and downtime, current blockchains are not fit for purpose when it comes to mass Web3 adoption. That’s why we’re building a blockchain to be the reliable foundation for Web3 that ushers in users from around the world to experience the benefits of decentralization.”

Aptos is backed by some of the biggest names in the crypto space. Back in July, they raised $150 Million in a Series A round led by FTX Ventures, the venture branch of one of the largest crypto exchanges. Over the last year, they have raised a total of $350 Million from names including Andreessen Horowitz, Multicoin Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. FTX, when asked to comment on their investments in Aptos, commented: “For blockchain
technology to reach the next billion users, we need to prioritize scalability, safety, and ease of use. Aptos does exactly this.”

Aptos’ bold promises to increase blockchain reliability and scalability have garnered the attention of many high-profile investors and big names in the industry. Only time will tell if Aptos can deliver on its pioneering transaction speeds and whether there is enough demand to support another Layer 1.

Written by Pierrick Gould