Aptos

APT is the native coin of Aptos, a layer-1 blockchain, used to pay transaction fees and secure the network through staking.

Aptos is a public layer-1 blockchain whose mainnet went live in October 2022. It was built by Aptos Labs, founded by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, who previously worked on Meta's Diem project. Smart contracts on Aptos are written in Move, a language designed to make asset handling safer. APT is the network's native coin: it pays transaction fees, is staked with validators to secure the network, and gives stakers votes in on-chain governance.

In March 2026 APT holders approved a tokenomics overhaul through on-chain governance. It set a hard cap of 2.1 billion APT, cut the staking reward rate from 5.19% to 2.6% a year, and raised gas fees tenfold; all gas fees are burned. The Aptos Foundation also proposed permanently locking 210 million APT for staking. Total supply was about 1.21 billion APT on 27 September 2026, and investor and core-contributor tokens are still vesting.

Aptos carries about $0.97 billion of stablecoins and hosts tokenised assets, decentralised exchanges, lending markets and a perpetual-futures exchange. Its on-chain DeFi is small next to larger networks, at roughly $74 million outside centralised exchanges in late September 2026.

About 86 validators secure the network, and stakers can join through delegation pools. Aptos Labs develops the core software, and the Aptos Foundation supports the ecosystem with grants. In March 2026 an SEC interpretation, joined by the CFTC, named APT as a digital commodity in the United States; a US spot APT fund has been filed for but was not trading, while a staking ETP trades in Europe.