Aptos blockchain launches its mainnet, fuelled by millions of VC dollars

Aptos Labs blockchain announced the long-anticipated launch of its mainnet on Oct. 17, becoming the first of the Facebook spin-off networks to premiere and test its multibillion-dollar valuation. However, until the Aptos token, wallets, trading venues, and DApps debut, there won’t be many use cases on Aptos.

Aptos is the creation of several ex-Meta employees who had been working on the canceled Diem stablecoin project. The Aptos code is written with Move, the Rust-based programming language favored by another upcoming network Sui blockchain of Mysten Labs.

With this modular design, Aptos aims to support faster and safer release cycles, as changes can be targeted to individual modules. The modular design is also set to provide a structured path to scaling validators beyond a single machine, providing access to additional computation, network, and storage resources, according to the Aptos whitepaper.

Despite Aptos Labs declaring its network “live,” the ecosystem is still far from complete, with dozens of teams going to launch the wallets, trading venues, NFT tech essential, and decentralized finance (DeFi) apps. Until those and an Aptos token debut, there won’t be many use cases on Aptos.

The blockchain itself is up and running, having completed its “genesis transaction” on Oct. 12. However, the infrastructure has proven rocky, as people building within Aptos told CoinDesk the mainnet rollout was “rushed.”

In March, the talked-about blockchain first made headlines after securing $200 million in a funding round led by a16z, with major investors, such as Tiger Global, Katie Haun, FTX Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Binance Labs.

That slew of investors was followed soon by another wave in July, when Aptos closed a $150 million Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, with participation from Binance Labs. The second funding round reportedly set the company’s valuation at $2 billion, or four times higher than the previous Aptos valuation six months earlier.

That lofty valuation may turn pivotal to Aptos’ declared aim of becoming the Web3 hub, while Aptos has set itself a direct goal of cheaper and faster alternatives to Ethereum and Solana, another blockchain in the Rust language family.

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