About

Aptos is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) smart contract network that uses the Move programming language for virtual machine (VM) transaction execution. The AptosBFT consensus mechanism is architected with Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), which means the network functions properly if less than one-third of the validators act dishonestly. The Move ecosystem was designed for safety and contains a compiler, a virtual machine, and developer tools. In Move, smart contracts are known as Modules.

Aptos uses a "modular approach" to transaction processing that enables transaction dissemination (transactions grouped into batches and broadcasted to other validators), block metadata ordering (group batches of metadata to blocks and order them), parallel transaction execution (via a sharded architecture), batch storage (enables data partitioning, so computation only accesses relevant data), and ledger certification (sharing and aggregating validator signatures on the ledger state) to operate concurrently. This modular architecture supports frequent and instant protocol upgrades with minimal interruption. See Messari’s “Understanding Aptos” report for a complete overview of Aptos’ technical architecture.

History

Aptos was founded in 2021 by Mohammad Shaikh and Avery Ching to provide a safe, upgradeable, and scalable blockchain network that would facilitate “fair access to decentralization” for anyone. Aptos is inspired by the Diem (formerly Libra) blockchain, which Meta (formerly Facebook) discontinued.

Aptos Labs, the project’s supporting entity, claims Aptos was built from the Libra/Diem technology developed at Meta. More specifically, “Aptos will be built in part on the technology we developed in the open over the past three years. Aptos is using Move, the safe and reliable language originally developed for Diem.”

Aptos’ mainnet launched on Oct. 12, 2022, with the capacity to process module (smart contract) execution requests and asset transfers. Though Aptos has the ability to shard for increased scalability, the project does not plan to add shards until network activity requires such. (whitepaper, pg. 7)

On Dec. 5, 2023, the project team announced the findings from Previewnet, a test environment for increased network transaction capacity. From Nov. 6-21, 2023, transactions per second (TPS) on the testnet peaked at over 30,000 due to the implementation of multiple techniques, including:

• Storage Sharding - Splits state storage into multiple “RocksDB” instances to increase network transaction capacity. The project team intends to launch storage sharding on mainnet in 2024 as part of its next milestone of reaching 100,000 TPS in its “journey to exceed 1 million TPS.”
• Aggregators - Enable parallelized execution.). A full primer on aggregators can be seen here.

Aptos Labs is also developing a new Aptos Move Compiler, bringing a set of new language features that aim to streamline coding processes and expand functionality. These include receiver-style function calls, higher-order functions, and user-defined abilities. Aptos Labs intends to implement most of these new features in the first half of 2024.