Aptos is a new and much anticipated Layer 1 blockchain. It launched in October 2022. Its founders were active in Meta’s defunct blockchain projects. However, they took the new Move programming language to this protocol. It’s a fast chain with low gas fees.
This is the second article in our two-part series on Aptos. (You can read Part 1 here.) So, let’s dive in and answer three more popular questions about the project for you.
400+ builders applied, 180+ hackers joined in, 50 demo projects rolled out, and 15 winners were awarded at the first stop of #AptosWorldTour.
Catch up on everything that happened at Aptos Seoul Hack and meet the first cohort of winners ⤵️https://t.co/QGWjp3I1jz pic.twitter.com/JTZ4MS0nFy
— Aptos (@Aptos_Network) February 15, 2023
How Do You Stake Aptos?
Staking APT requires you to run a validator node. Remember, we explained the validator node in Part 1 of this guide. However, it appears that delegation of your stake is in the works. This allows you to delegate your APT to a validator node.
Currently, the staking rewards are around 7%. Each epoch sees an evaluation of your stake. An epoch is a specific period of time. During this time frame, validators can produce new blocks. It can also mark when you receive rewards. In Aptos, such an epoch is two hours.
Staking APT is almost risk-free. For example, Aptos doesn’t have any slashing. This slashing happens when a validator is in violation of one or more parts of the protocol. There are plenty of other blockchains that have slashing integrated.
19/ The Aptos blockchain encodes its configuration on-chain. Every validator can synchronize with the current state of the blockchain and automatically select the correct configuration (e.g., consensus protocol and Aptos framework version) based on the current on-chain values.
— Aptos (@Aptos_Network) August 11, 2022
How Do You Bridge Aptos?
You can bridge digital assets in and out of the Aptos blockchain. There are quite a few bridges available. However, we concentrate on the Aptos Bridge in this article.
To clarify, bridging to Aptos is fast and easy. However, bridging from this chain to another chain can take up to two days. That’s because these outbound transfers require 500,000 block confirmations.
Currently, you can bridge between seven blockchains. For example:
- BNB Chain
- Aptos
- Avalanche
- Arbitrum
- Optimism
- Ethereum
- Polygon
The assets that you can bridge are, for instance:
- ETH
- wETH
- USDC
- USDT
- BTC.b
- CAKE
The bridging itself is straightforward. Follow these steps.
- At the Aptos Bridge, connect both an Aptos and Ethereum (EVM) compatible wallet.
- Choose the asset and chain you like to bridge from.
- Put in the amount you like to bridge over and then click “Bridge.”
- Your Aptos wallet receives the funds within minutes.
The costs for bridging are between 1 and 2 APT. Bridging to Aptos may take around 10 minutes.
For now, they will import wrapped assets. That is, until you can transfer native assets to this chain. Currently, there’s a 24-hour limit of $1 million due to security reasons. The team will lift this restriction in due time.
When you receive assets for the first time on Aptos from a non-Aptos wallet, you need to register this asset. This is a security aspect. It also indicates that this protocol works differently compared to other chains.
Below is a picture of the Aptos Bridge, showing you how to connect the two wallets.
Source: The Aptos Bridge
How Do You Buy the APT Token?
The APT token is available at most central exchanges. They were almost tumbling over each other to list APT. This is rather unusual and shows the hype around this chain.
CEXs that offer APT include, among others:
- Binance
- OKX
- Gate.io
- KuCoin
- Coinbase
- Kraken
- Huobi
- MEXC Global
Besides this, there are also lots of smaller, local CEXs. Furthermore, DEXs like PancakeSwap and LiquidSwap also offer APT. That’s not to mention all the DEXs in the Aptos DeFi space. For a new chain, that’s quite a remarkable feature.
Conclusion
We covered another three popular questions about this new Layer 1 blockchain. This is Part 2 of a series of two articles.
The current APT price is $13.92. Their market cap is $2.36 billion. From an initial total supply of 1 billion tokens, only 169 million circulate. By market cap, this chain already takes #32 spot. You can buy the APT token on all major exchanges.
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