Introduction

In the public blockchain sector, competition between chains is intensifying. It’s well understood that “he who wins the users, wins the world.” Legacy chains like Ethereum (ETH) hold a dominant position, but its high gas fees often deter users. Solana has gained traction as a user-preferred choice due to its low fees and higher transaction speeds. Bolstered by meme culture, Solana has seen a massive surge in its user base.

This year, TON and SUI have each leveraged their technological strengths to make significant advancements. Meanwhile, Aptos has maintained a quieter profile, leading to the question: is Aptos failing to develop, or is it simply gathering strength?

This article will delve into the performance of Aptos in terms of TVL, daily active users, daily transaction volume, and meme influence, and examine its potential for a breakthrough compared to other public chains.

1. Competitive Landscape Among Existing Public Chains

1. TVL Data Comparison

From the perspective of overall Total Value Locked (TVL), Solana stands out distinctly, leading other public chains in the race to catch up with Ethereum (ETH). Solana’s TVL remains 4-5 times higher than other chains, largely due to its early launch, which allowed it to establish a favorable competitive position.

Over the past year, Solana’s growth rate has been approximately 1,596.79%, while Sui grew at around 2,037.15%, Aptos at 2,951.21%, and TON achieved a remarkable growth rate of 3,934.39%.

The highest growth was recorded by TON, with a 3,934.39% increase, meaning its TVL grew nearly 40-fold within a year. TON’s explosive rise can be attributed to the launch of significant tokens on its platform, such as NOTCOIN in May, DOGS in August, CATI, RBTC, and HMSTR in September. All these tokens were airdropped to users via Telegram mini-apps, and within just a week of the first airdrop, the tokens collectively reached over one million holders. With the help of mini-apps, TON rapidly attracted a large user base in a short period. Right behind TON in terms of growth is Aptos, which recorded a 2,951.21% increase, setting a new historical high.

2. User Growth Comparison

As shown in the data, all public chains have experienced daily active user growth over the past year.

Aptos saw a growth rate of approximately 672.23%, while Ethereum’s growth slightly declined, showing a decrease of around -27.14%. Solana’s growth rate reached approximately 743.46%, and TON saw significant growth at around 2,483.45%. The chain with the highest user growth was Sui, whose daily active users rose from 19,758 on January 1, 2024, to 656,249 by October 8, 2024—an increase of 3,221.43%, making it the fastest-growing among competing Layer 1 chains.

3. Comprehensive Analysis of Aptos’ Performance

Note: The table below shows the growth over the last three months.

Performance Over the Past Year

Keeping Pace with Competitors:

In a highly competitive landscape, Aptos has demonstrated significant competitiveness, closely following its rivals and not falling behind overall. In various metrics, it has shown resilience, indicating its strength in technology, ecosystem development, and market strategy, among other factors.

Gap in Daily Active Users Compared to Solana:

Solana, a relatively mature public chain, has accumulated a substantial user base over time. As a new and emerging chain, Aptos understandably has fewer daily active users than Solana.

Performance Over the Last Three Months

Gains in Activity and Market Lead:

In the past three months, Aptos has shown notable gains in both daily active users and daily transaction volume. Its strong DeFi ecosystem has attracted increased user and transaction activity, with substantial capital inflows further underscoring market recognition of its potential. Investors appear to see Aptos as a project with significant growth potential, driving considerable capital investment into the platform.

Market Recognition of Potential:

A project’s acceptance by the market is typically reflected through factors like price increases, user growth, and transaction volume. Over the past three months, Aptos has exhibited these indicators of market recognition, suggesting its potential is increasingly being acknowledged. If Aptos can sustain this growth trajectory, continue optimizing and innovating, and expand its user base and ecosystem, it may well achieve greater success in the future.

2. Importance of Memes in the Blockchain Ecosystem

1. Meme Tokens in the Solana Ecosystem

According to recent data, the influence of meme tokens on the Solana ecosystem is growing significantly. Memes now drive approximately 40% of Solana’s total transaction volume, with pump.fun alone accounting for 35% of Solana DEX (decentralized exchange) volume. Solana currently leads in on-chain transaction volume, and in the short term, has even surpassed Ethereum in transaction volume. For context, the total transaction volume on Solana stands at $51 billion compared to Ethereum’s $46 billion.

Moreover, Solana dominates token generation, with its market share increasing from 60% at the beginning of September to 86% recently, and the weekly rate of token generation spiking from 45,000 to 110,000. This trend underscores how meme tokens have become a powerful force driving user engagement and activity on the Solana network.

2. Meme Tokens in the SUI Ecosystem

On-chain data shows that meme tokens also play a crucial role in the SUI ecosystem, with nearly 50% of its transaction volume derived from meme tokens. At peak market activity, meme tokens have accounted for as much as 90% of SUI’s transaction volume, with the surge in meme token popularity leading the entire ecosystem’s growth cycle.

Compared to overall TVL, transaction volume provides a more direct view of DeFi participant activity, serving as a vital indicator of ecosystem health. High levels of on-chain transactions benefit liquidity providers with increased returns, while higher network transaction fees further showcase the network’s self-sustaining potential.

Throughout this cycle, the SUI public chain has distinguished itself with superior performance and strong community support, reigniting market interest in the Move programming language and attracting a significant number of developers and users. As a leading Move-language blockchain, SUI is seen by many as a potential leader in the next generation of public chains, positioning it as a prime choice for those looking to invest in the Move ecosystem.

3. Meme Tokens in the Aptos Ecosystem

As SUI’s ecosystem rises, its fellow Move-language chain Aptos has naturally drawn increasing attention.

Market data shows that meme coins have outperformed all other cryptocurrency sectors in 2024, with no signs of slowing down. The wealth-generating potential of meme tokens has attracted significant institutional interest, suggesting that market sentiment could be shifting in their favor. According to Coingecko, the current total market cap of meme tokens is approximately $58 billion, which, relative to the broader cryptocurrency industry’s $2.354 trillion market cap, represents a share of just 2.46%. This small percentage highlights the vast growth potential and room for expansion in the meme token sector.

From Solana’s early days to SUI’s recent surge, meme tokens have proven to be an undeniable force. With backgrounds strikingly similar to SUI’s, both Aptos and SUI were founded by former members of Meta’s (formerly Facebook) Diem project and the Novi crypto wallet initiative. Given that SUI has successfully capitalized on the meme wave, Aptos is likely to follow suit, leveraging this trend to make significant inroads in the meme sector.

3.Potential Advantages of Aptos

1. Technical Architecture and Performance

High Performance and Scalability: Aptos utilizes the “Block-STM” consensus algorithm, which combines parallel processing with transaction memory technology, enabling it to handle thousands of transactions per second. This significantly enhances blockchain throughput and scalability, making it highly efficient for large-scale transaction processing and able to meet the growing demands of blockchain applications. Compared to other public chains with lower performance, Aptos offers users a faster, smoother experience.

Advanced State Synchronization Technology: Aptos employs a state synchronization method whereby full nodes can read the Merkle tree root from other nodes that have already reached consensus, allowing them to synchronize without processing historical data and directly handle the latest block. Light nodes can selectively sync specific information, such as certain account data. This approach reduces the workload on nodes, increases network synchronization efficiency, and enables nodes to quickly participate in network validation and transaction processing.

2. Security

Widely Distributed Nodes: Aptos nodes are distributed across 22 countries and 48 cities. An attacker would need to target multiple geographically dispersed nodes to compromise the network, making attacks more challenging and costly. In contrast to public chains with nodes concentrated in a few regions, Aptos’ network is better equipped to resist malicious attacks, thereby ensuring network stability and security.

Secure Move Programming Language: The Move programming language, initially developed for Meta’s stablecoin project, was designed with high security in mind. Assets are stored directly in the owner’s address rather than in contract addresses, and each transaction execution produces entirely predictable outcomes. This setup significantly reduces smart contract security risks. Compared to Solidity, the high-level language used by Ethereum and many other chains, Move offers enhanced security, minimizing vulnerabilities and reducing the risk of attacks.

Conclusion

In summary, the analysis suggests that Aptos demonstrates significant growth potential and hints at an impending breakthrough. Although its current TVL and total daily active users are still behind some industry-leading projects, Aptos has shown impressive performance over the past three months, with rapid growth in daily active users, daily transaction volume, and capital inflows—all contributing to a promising outlook for its future.

However, Aptos faces several challenges. In terms of decentralization, Aptos has prioritized high performance over full decentralization to address the “blockchain trilemma,” which inevitably compromises the decentralized nature of its nodes. From a technical innovation perspective, Aptos has so far focused primarily on enhancing blockchain performance rather than introducing groundbreaking new technologies. Additionally, Aptos’ ecosystem development is still maturing; most projects within its ecosystem are adaptations from other ecosystems, which could lead to issues with multi-chain deployments and a lack of unique, innovative applications.

The public blockchain market is highly competitive. Established chains like Ethereum and Solana maintain a strong market position with their own advantages, while newer chains like Sui and TON bring fresh challenges. In this environment, standing out will be no easy feat for Aptos.

If Aptos can overcome these challenges by leveraging emerging trends such as meme tokens, continue to innovate and refine its technology, and expand its ecosystem, it still has the potential to secure a strong position in the fiercely competitive public blockchain market.

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