Progress in Aptos over the First Half-Year of 2024: an Everstake Report

PROGRESS IN APTOS OVER THE FIRST HALF-YEAR OF 2024: AN EVERSTAKE REPORT

The Aptos ecosystem is experiencing unprecedented improvements in chain performance, particularly in transaction speed and throughput, with several notable records set to prove this progress. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in user adoption and activity. The ecosystem has seen several major innovations, including keyless accounts, passkeys, on-chain randomness, and more. 

This report discusses Aptos’ main advancements in user adoption, decentralization, staking, liquid staking, governance, technology, and security during the first half of 2024.

KEY INSIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS

• The average number of active accounts remained above 125,000. Spikes in user activity occurred on June 2nd and June 8th for 500,000 and 1,200,000 accounts, respectively.
• The number of staking pools has risen from 105 to 109, while delegation pools have substantially increased from 18 to 31. This growth has led to a total increase in nodes from 123 to 140.
• The Nakamoto coefficient has increased to 22, surpassing that of major competitors Solana (19) and Sui (15).
• As of January 1, 2024, the stake on delegation nodes comprised 118 million APT, representing 12.9% of the total stake. By June 30, 2024, this delegated stake had grown significantly to 208 million APT, accounting for 23.8% of the total stake, while the total stake slightly decreased from 908 million to 876 million APT.
• In the first half of the year, the number of delegators more than doubled, increasing from 21.9 thousand to 48.6 thousand.
• Most nodes charge a 7% commission. The minimum fee among all nodes is 2% (Everstake), and the maximum is 100%.
• Total Liquid Staking TVL increased by 246%, from $56.8 million on January 1, 2024, to $196.7 million on July 1, 2024.
• Aptos reached sub-second latency, increased its throughput, and introduced more user-friendly features, among other things.

METHODOLOGY

This report examines the Aptos blockchain using specific data practices and sources as outlined below:

• On-chain Data: We collected extensive data from the Aptos blockchain, including raw transaction data and metrics such as staking, transactions, and inflation.
• Data Preparation: We used Python and PowerBI to thoroughly clean and format the data. Additionally, we carefully merged inputs from diverse sources to facilitate comprehensive analysis.
• Data Analysis: We conducted a detailed analysis using graphs, charts, and statistical measures to discern patterns in staking and other metrics.
• Interpretation: Leveraging our expertise, we interpreted the findings and discussed the trends of the Aptos blockchain metrics.

DEFINITIONS

The key terms in this report are as follows:

Total stake – the number of staked APT tokens.

Validators – node operators within Aptos responsible for securing the blockchain by validating transactions and generating new blocks.

Delegators – APT holders who have delegated their tokens to delegation nodes and aim to receive staking rewards and participate in Aptos Governance.

APR – the annual percentage rate, denoting the blockchain's annualized percentage revenue for staking.

TVL – Total Value Locked, representing the total value of assets locked in the Aptos ecosystem.

ANALYZING USER ADOPTION METRICS ON THE APTOS BLOCKCHAIN: ACTIVE AND NEW ACCOUNT GROWTH

User adoption growth is a critical metric for assessing a blockchain network's relevance and healthy development. We will consider trends like unique active accounts to evaluate users' tendency to adopt the Aptos blockchain. These metrics provide insight into the blockchain’s level of engagement and expansion within the community.

UNIQUE DAILY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS GROWTH IN APTOS BLOCKCHAIN

The unique daily active accounts metric highlights how regularly users engage with the Aptos blockchain. This includes conducting transactions, interacting with smart contracts, and participating in governance activities. Many daily active accounts indicate that users consistently find value and utility in the blockchain’s features. 

The graph below depicts the daily active accounts over the first six months of 2024. The average number of active accounts remained above 125,000. Additionally, there were impressive spikes in user activity on June 2nd and June 8th for 500,000 and 1,200,000 accounts, respectively. An exceptionally high number of daily active accounts often correlates with significant ecosystem events such as on-chain gaming activities, popular NFT collection launches, and major updates or releases.

FIGURE 1. APTOS DAILY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS

Another important metric is the stability of daily active users over time—the chart below shows its dynamic by plotting the 15-day moving average of daily active users. A moving average smooths out short-term fluctuations and highlights longer-term trends in data. The number of daily active users rarely dropped below 100,000 but fluctuated between 100,000 and 200,000.

FIGURE 2. APTOS DAILY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS (15-DAY MOVING AVERAGE)

NUMBER OF NODES AND THE NAKAMOTO COEFFICIENT

In the first half of 2024, the Aptos blockchain has shown significant growth in terms of decentralization, as illustrated in the chart below. The number of staking pools has risen from 105 to 109, while delegation pools have substantially increased from 18 to 31. This growth has led to a total increase in nodes from 123 to 140. 

FIGURE 3. NUMBER OF NODES ON APTOS

Additionally, the Nakamoto coefficient has increased to 22, surpassing major Aptos competitors like Solana (19) and Sui (15). The Nakamoto coefficient, a metric that measures the minimum number of nodes required to compromise the network, is an important indicator of decentralization. A higher Nakamoto coefficient signifies a more decentralized and secure network. The growth in staking pools and delegation nodes on the Aptos network greatly enhanced its decentralization and positively affected its overall health.

APTOS STAKING STATS

Staking is a fundamental mechanism in Aptos, which secures the network and plays an important role in Aptos governance, empowering users to actively participate in decision-making by voting for or against Aptos Improvement Proposals (AIP).

By staking their tokens, participants contribute to the overall integrity and performance of the network and make it more resilient and efficient in return for rewards.

STAKE DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN STAKING POOLS AND DELEGATION NODES

As of January 1, 2024, the stake on delegation nodes comprised 118 million APT, representing 12.9% of the total stake. By June 30, 2024, this delegated stake had grown significantly to 208 million APT, accounting for 23.8% of the total stake, while the total stake slightly decreased from 908 million to 876 million APT. The chart below shows the distribution of the total stake between staking pools and delegation nodes during the period mentioned earlier.

FIGURE 4. STAKE ON STAKING POOLS AND DELEGATION NODES

This indicates a substantial migration of the stake from staking pools to delegation pools. The increase in stake on delegation nodes shows that more users have chosen to delegate their tokens, which enhanced the distribution of influence and security across the blockchain.

STAKE ON DELEGATION NODES AND NUMBER OF DELEGATORS

The chart below illustrates the growth of the stake on delegation nodes along with the total number of delegators in the network. In the first half of the year, the number of delegators more than doubled, increasing from 21.9 thousand to 48.6 thousand. 

FIGURE 5. STAKE AND NUMBER OF DELEGATORS ON DELEGATION NODES

Figure 6 demonstrates the delegated stake distribution among different validators, whose number increased from 18 to 31, as mentioned before.

FIGURE 6. STAKE DISTRIBUTION AND NUMBER OF DELEGATORS ON DELEGATION NODES

DELEGATORS GROUPS BY STAKE AMOUNT

By the end of the first half of 2024, the total delegated amount reached 208 million APT, with the number of delegators surpassing 48,000. The minimum delegated stake is 11 APT. 

The chart below illustrates the distribution of the delegated stake and the number of delegators across different delegation size categories: 10-500, 500-5K, 5K-50K, 50K-1M, and >1M APT.

FIGURE 7. DISTRIBUTION OF DELEGATORS BASED ON SIZE OF DELEGATED STAKE AMOUNT

DISTRIBUTION OF COMMISSION RATES ON DELEGATION NODES

The chart in Figure 8 represents the delegation node commission rates distribution on the Aptos network as of July 1st, 2024. 

FIGURE 8. DISTRIBUTION OF COMMISSION RATES ON DELEGATION NODES

2% and 4% Commission: These lower commission rates have minimal representation, with only one node at 2% (Everstake) and one at 4%. Such nodes give delegators higher rewards and only a handful of operators are willing to set their commissions this low.

5% Commission: A moderate concentration is observed at 5%, with four delegation nodes. However, there are no nodes with a 6% commission rate, indicating a possible gap in preference or strategy at this specific rate.

7% to 10% Commission: This range shows the highest concentration of delegation nodes. The 7% rate has the most nodes at 8, followed by 8% with six nodes and 10% with seven nodes. This clustering suggests that commission rates between 7% and 10% are the most popular among node operators, who arguably see this strategy as a balanced approach between attractiveness to delegators and profitability for operators.

12% Commission: Two nodes have 12%, indicating some acceptance of slightly higher commissions within the community.

100% Commission: Interestingly, one node has a 100% commission rate and thus clearly expects no delegators.

APTOS LIQUID STAKING

Liquid staking enables users to receive tokens of equivalent value to their staked assets instantly. Unlike traditional staking, which requires assets to be locked for a period, liquid staking allows users to maintain exposure to staked assets while using tokenized equivalents for transactions or DeFI activities. 

APTOS LIQUID STAKING TVL

Total Liquid Staking TVL increased by 246%, from $56.8 million on January 1, 2024, to $196.7 million on July 1, 2024. The chart below illustrates the changes in Aptos Liquid Staking TVL and the contributions of each of the five projects over the first half of 2024.

As of July 1, 2024, the five liquid staking projects include:

• Amnis Finance Liquid Staking: Leading with $108 million TVL
• Thala Liquid Staking: $48.2 million TVL
• TruFin (TruStake): A new liquid staking project with $35.4 million TVL
• Tortuga Finance: $4.5 million TVL
• Ditto: $0.6 million TVL

FIGURE 9. APTOS LIQUID STAKING TVL

The pie chart shows the contribution of each Aptos Liquid Staking project.

FIGURE 10. APTOS LIQUID STAKING TVL (AS OF 1ST JULY 2024)

AMNIS FINANCE LIQUID STAKING

Amnis Finance is a leading Aptos ecosystem platform specializing in liquid staking. The project offers advanced features such as liquid staking and yield tokenization to maximize user flexibility and financial strategies.

• amAPT (Amnis Aptos Token): This stablecoin is loosely pegged to APT, with each amAPT representing 1 APT. When APT is deposited into Amnis Finance, an equivalent amount of amAPT is minted.
• stAPT (Amnis Staked Aptos Token): Designed to accrue staking benefits from Amnis APT validators, stAPT allows users to convert amAPT to stAPT by depositing it into the stAPT vault. This enables users to earn staking yields on their amAPT. As validators generate staking rewards, the exchange rate of amAPT per stAPT increases, allowing users to redeem their stAPT for a larger amount of amAPT over time. 

This mechanism is known as autocompounding tokens, where stAPT holders benefit from a proportional claim on the growing amount of amAPT in the vault and share in staking rewards.

By holding stAPT, users effectively participate in the auto-compounding of staking rewards.

The graph below illustrates the consistent increase in staked amounts through Amnis Liquid Staking. During the first half of 2024, the stake grew by 393%, rising from 3.1 million APT to 15.1 million APT.

FIGURE 11. AMNIS LIQUID STAKE GROWTH

As shown below, Amnis Finance's share increased from 2.61% to 7.25% of the Stake on Delegation nodes and from 0.34% to 1.73% of the Total Stake.

FIGURE 12. AMNIS LIQUID STAKE SHARE

APTOS TVL

Total Value Locked (TVL) is one of the principal metrics used in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) to measure the total value of users' assets locked in a protocol. 

Different approaches are used to calculate chain TVL, especially regarding liquid staking or borrowed coins. This report includes three metrics: base TVL, TVL + liquid staking, and TVL + liquid staking and borrowed coins.

The graph below illustrates the base TVL trends in the Aptos chain for the first half of 2024 and TVL trends, including Liquid Staking and Borrowed Coins.

FIGURE 13. TRENDS IN APTOS CHAIN TVL

As observed from the trend, the first quarter of 2024 experienced steady growth, followed by a slight decrease and relatively small fluctuations. Nevertheless, comparing the TVL at the beginning of 2024 and the end of the first half of the year, the growth is remarkable:

• From January 1st to July 1st, the Aptos base TVL increased by 198%, or $231 million, reaching $348 million by mid-2024. 
• Including Liquid Staking, Aptos TVL surged by 214%, or $371 million, amounting to $545 million at the end of June 2024.
• The most significant increase in TVL is observed when accounting for both Liquid Staking and Borrowed Coins. In this scenario, Aptos TVL grew by 314%, or $555 million, resulting in $731 million by the end of the first half of 2024.

The top 10 Aptos ecosystem projects by TVL, including Liquid Staking and Borrowed Coins, are as follows:

SUB-SECOND LATENCY

Aptos has achieved a significant milestone by delivering consistent sub-second end-to-end (E2E) latency for all transaction types, setting a new standard in the blockchain industry. In practical terms, transactions on Aptos are confirmed almost instantly.

E2E latency measures the time it takes for a transaction to be submitted, reach validators, achieve consensus, and be confirmed back to the user. Unlike block time, which only captures part of the process, E2E latency focuses on the user experience. Aptos ensures irrevocable transaction finality, meaning they cannot be reverted once confirmed.

Due to the distributed nature of blockchain networks, achieving sub-second latency is challenging. Aptos optimized several components of its architecture to meet this goal, including an upgraded mempool (the staging area for incoming transactions) for faster transaction propagation, a lightning-fast Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus protocol, and adaptive block proposals that speed up transaction inclusion.

THROUGHPUT INCREASE

Throughput is a critical measure of a blockchain's performance, indicating its ability to handle many transactions per second (TPS). High throughput ensures smooth and efficient operations, particularly for applications requiring real-time interaction and high transaction volumes. Maintaining stability over time while sustaining high TPS is also crucial for overall system reliability.

In May 2024, Aptos demonstrated a unique throughput achievement. Taposcat, a viral clicker game, was launched on the Aptos Mainnet. This game allows users to earn by tapping the screen as a practical test and demonstration of Aptos's performance in terms of throughput and scalability. Notably, during 24 hours from May 26th, 7 am to May 27th, 7 am UTC, the game recorded 182 million transactions. This averages to over 2,100 TPS during that maximum 24-hour period.

This achievement is significant as it showcases Aptos's ability to handle substantial transaction loads efficiently. Furthermore, the stability demonstrated in maintaining such a high TPS over several days indicates Aptos’ potential to support large-scale applications.

ONE MILLION NFTS

On May 14, 2024, Aptos achieved a remarkable milestone by successfully minting a collection of 1 million NFTs, marking the fastest and largest NFT minting event to date. 

This accomplishment showcased the power of Aptos Aggregators, a feature designed to enable parallel execution of smart contracts on the Aptos Blockchain, even in scenarios with significant read-write conflicts, such as updating global counters or managing collections like NFTs. Aggregators mitigate conflicts by deferring reads and writes and utilizing multi-version data structures, allowing transactions to proceed concurrently. This capability is crucial as it enhances transaction throughput and efficiency, particularly in environments where sequential execution would otherwise be necessary due to conflicting data updates.

APTOS GOVERNANCE

The Aptos on-chain governance process allows Aptos community members to create and vote on proposals. Members must stake to participate in proposing or voting, but running a validator node is not required. The proposer’s backing stake pool must meet the minimum necessary stake, which has to be locked for at least the proposal’s voting period. Voting power is based on the current epoch’s active stake, and delegators can also vote on GovScan.

Aptos Improvement Proposals (AIPs) are suggestions created by the Aptos community or Aptos Labs team to enhance the operations and development of the Aptos chain. One must make an issue in the Aptos Foundation's GitHub repository to submit an AIP.

Thirty-three governance votes were executed in the first half of 2024. The Aptos Labs team proposed and implemented several fundamental developments, including those described below.

APTOS KEYLESS ACCOUNTS

AIP-61 introduces keyless accounts on the Aptos Blockchain, addressing the challenges of managing secret keys by leveraging the OpenID Connect (OIDC) standard. This proposal eliminates the need for traditional secret keys, replacing them with user-friendly OIDC accounts such as those from Google, GitHub, or Apple. Users can secure their blockchain accounts with their existing Web2 identities, simplifying onboarding and reducing the risk of account loss or theft. This approach significantly enhances user experience and makes blockchain technology more accessible to broader audiences.

Users can already create their Aptos account with a single click. Currently, it is accessible with Google accounts, and support for Apple accounts is under development within AIP-90 .

APTOS ONCHAIN RANDOMNESS

Aptos on-chain randomness, implemented in AIP-79 , provides Move smart contracts with instant, unbiased, and unpredictable randomness under the proof-of-stake (PoS) assumption. The system utilizes a weighted distributed key generation (DKG) protocol to establish threshold keys among validators, generating randomness for each block using these keys and a weighted verifiable unpredictable function (VUF). This process ensures minimal impact on blockchain performance, adding only a small latency overhead. Validators run a non-interactive DKG before each epoch change, enabling them to produce randomness immediately after the new epoch begins. This design addresses the need for secure and efficient randomness in various blockchain applications.

APTOS PASSKEY

Aptos Passkeys, outlined in AIP-66 , introduce WebAuthn Authenticator support, allowing users to authenticate transactions using passkeys and WebAuthn credentials. Passkeys provide a secure, phishing-resistant, and user-friendly alternative to passwords, enabling transaction authentication through device biometrics like FaceID or TouchID. This approach simplifies onboarding and account recovery within the Web3 ecosystem.

FUTURE PROSPECTS

In the first half of 2024, Aptos established an efficient foundation for expanding and developing its ecosystem. Significant performance improvements in latency reduction and increased throughput enhanced the blockchain’s scalability and prepared it for possible future expansions. Coupled with increased user-friendliness, as exemplified by Keyless accounts and other novelties, this may indicate the ecosystem’s goal to attract broader audiences beyond the existing blockchain communities.