Whether Aptos is able to meet this objective will have plenty to do with the programming language underpinning its chain, called Move, which was developed from scratch to power the Diem blockchain. The language enables a peak theoretical performance of 160,000 TPS, far higher than the theoretical peaks of both Ethereum and Solana.
Publicly, the Aptos team resists the “Solana-killer” designation. But much as Solana was designed to process transactions faster than Ethereum, Aptos promises to outperform Solana.
This competition is healthy for a blockchain ecosystem, says David Shuttleworth, senior DeFi economist at ConsenSys, a development studio set up by Ethereum cofounder Joe Lubin. “Advancements in technology should always be pursued, at every level, not just blockchain, and should not be limited to one particular ecosystem or protocol,” he says.
“A blockchain doesn’t have to succeed to have a positive influence on the overall ecosystem,” says Paul Brody, a board member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, a body dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Ethereum in a business context.
But the developers already building software on top of Aptos, who Shaikh is relying on to propel its growth, don’t think it will fail. The founder of Topaz, one of the first Aptos NFT marketplaces, who goes only by Topaz Nick, says he thought the launch was “super smooth.”
“It’s pretty obvious to us that Aptos is the future of Web3,” he says. “It’s the highest-capacity, most efficient blockchain. Not only that, but the developer experience is already incredible.”
Another developer, Gabriel Lan Pham, whose team has built an Aptos-native crypto wallet called Fewcha, says choosing to develop for a new platform was a risk, but one worth taking. If Aptos does become as big as Ethereum, Fewcha is likely to benefit from being one of the first out of the gate. In the worst-case scenario, he says his team will have gained some valuable blockchain development experience. “We have a strong faith that blockchain will be the next big bang in technology, similar to the internet during the 2000s or smartphones during [the] 2010s,” says Lan Pham.
Neither developer says they harbor any concerns about the scalability of the network, nor do they pay much mind to the branding of Aptos as an Ethereum- or Solana-killer. If all Aptos developers feel the same way, the rocky token airdrop and anger from early adopters won’t make a difference to the network’s future—if they build it, new community members will come.
“The Aptos ecosystem has potential,” says Lan Pham. “We have to put our heads down and build. Only good products can last.”
