Ethereum’s struggles with its network have allowed other Layer 1 blockchains to compete and deliver the solutions people are looking for. One such platform is Solana, which proved to be a worthy competitor by offering an eco-friendly consensus mechanism, fast transactions, and low costs.
But it seems that the promising competitor is now struggling with critical issues, including repeated platform outages and resource exhaustion, putting its long-term competitiveness in limbo. These struggles have opened up opportunities for a new breed of blockchains that are built on a special type of programming language called Move.
Aptos is one of the most promising developments in this arena, currently touted as a “Solana killer,” that aims to rise above the hype and carve its own path in the web3 space.
What is Aptos Blockchain?
Aptos is a scalable Layer 1 blockchain that currently works as an experimental transaction-ordering algorithm that aims to deliver increased affordability, speed, and decentralization for billions of users. The protocol is yet to create its own token.
It was created by Avery Ching and Mo Shai, who have previously worked at the now-defunct Diem/Libra/Novi projects spearheaded by Facebook (now Meta).
Moreover, Aptos uses a programming language called “Move,” which formerly powered the Diem project. It is also being used by a separate L1 platform called Sui, founded by another team who also worked on Facebook’s blockchain project. But since Move is relatively unknown in the programming circles, it is still unclear if a lot of programmers would be willing to adopt it.
When it comes to investments, Aptos has attracted some of the web3 industry’s largest investors, including FTX and Jump Crypto, which have poured $150 million into the new blockchain platform. Aptos has also received an additional $200 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz and other venture capitalists (VCs)
Aptos Uses Parallel Execution
We can better understand “parallel execution” by first exploring its counterpart, “serial execution,” a transaction settlement method used by most blockchain platforms. Serial execution is a single chronology of transactions updated by a system every time someone makes an activity within a blockchain platform.
The system adds every new transaction to that single chronology, one at a time. But while the presence of only one chronology protects the platform from possible fraud, its main disadvantage is slow transaction speed.
This is where “parallel execution” comes in, which can theoretically be faster than serial execution by running multiple chains (instead of just one). To have a feel of its difference, Aptos says that it was able to achieve a lightning-fast speed of 130,000 transactions per second (tps), compared to Ethereum’s 30. In fact, this speed is even faster than Solana’s current 2,444 tps!
The Dangers of Parallel Execution
But while parallel execution’s speed is promising, it may be sacrificing security at the same time. Using more chains opens security risks such as double spending, which may be leveraged by opportunists and compromise the blockchain’s integrity. Parallel execution may also generate confusing transaction history, a potential nightmare when verifying processes. Furthermore, managing multiple chains may cause transactions to process on every chain, causing them to fail and may affect the blockchain’s entire operation.
Millions of NFTs Minted in an Hour?
To further test parallel execution’s potential, Aptos did an experiment to solve one of blockchain’s biggest headaches: The slow minting of large batches of non-fungible token (NFT) collections. The test turned out to be a success as Aptos’ devnet had seamlessly minted millions of NFTs in an hour.
And according to the team, this capability can potentially increase once it launches Aptos’ mainnet in Q3 2022. If this feature can work well in a real-world application, projects could leverage this capability to launch smoothly and offer incentives to even millions of minters in the fastest way possible.
Conclusion
While Aptos has already shown promising features, its upcoming mainnet launch, as well as long-term performance will determine its competitiveness among L1 blockchains. Moreover, only time will tell if it really has what it takes to be a worthy “Solana killer.” There have been tons of Ethereum killers that existed in the past, most of which have crashed in valuations while Ethereum is still the number 1 L1.
With this in mind, take this “Solana killer” catchline with a grain of salt. Be responsible in your due diligence and resist falling prey to hype.
This article will be periodically updated to bring you the newest developments in the Aptos blockchain.
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