21/10/2022 Aptos NFTs Are Coming—And May Put Network Scalability Claims to the Test

Amid questions over its transaction throughput, can Aptos handle a slate of potentially in-demand NFT mints on the horizon?


Aptos NFT ecosystem artwork from Aptos Monkeys (cropped). Image: Aptos Monkeys
Aptos NFT ecosystem artwork from Aptos Monkeys (cropped). Image: Aptos Monkeys

The newest crypto on the block,Aptos, launchedits mainnet this weekto considerable buzz around its token airdrop to early users, but also questions about whether the network—which has raised $350 million in VC funding—can live up to the hypeabout its tech.

The blockchain's first real test may come soon, however, as a rush ofNFTprojects prepare to launch on the network. NFT trading has in the past put theEthereumandSolananetworks under considerable stress, so how will Aptos hold up if demand for its NFTs matches the buzz?

The Aptos launch came with sizable expectations, in part due to the ample VC funding and also its origins fromFacebook’s scrapped Diem initiative. But some of the buzz also came from claims that Aptos can scale to handle dramatically more transactions than any current layer-1 blockchain—over 160,000 transactions per second(TPS).

But if Aptos really can handle such huge technical demands, we haven’t seen evidence of it yet onmainnet. When it launched on Monday, Aptos was only processinga few transactions per second. As of today, the figure ishovering around 10 TPS.

Among majorsmart contractplatforms that run autonomous code to powerdecentralized apps,Ethereumhandles about 30 TPS on its mainnet, withSolanaat around 3,000 TPS. Buttestnetclaims don’t always match real-world conditions on the eventual public mainnet—Solana, for example,claimed hundreds of thousands of TPSon its testnet years ago.

Aptos co-founder Mo Shaikhtweeted Tuesdaythat the “current TPS is not representative of the network capacity—this was the network idling ahead of projects coming online. This number is expected to increase with more activity.” In other words: there’s not a whole lot happening yet on Aptos, but it’ll be ready for action.

TPS: The current TPS is not representative of the network capacity - this was the network idling ahead of projects coming online. This number is expected to increase with more activity. Hope this clears up any TPS confusion.

— Mo Shaikh (@moshaikhs)October 18, 2022

That increased activity could be right around the corner as Aptos users prepare to mint their first NFTs, with dedicated Aptos marketplaces already live with a handful of collections. A number of additional collections are expected to launch this week and next after amassing significant social media traction.

Already, the NFT scene on Aptos is growing.Topaz, one of the marketplaces that is already facilitating trades for a handful of collections—likeCryptoPunks knockoff Aptos Punk—tweeted Thursday morningthat it had already processed about 12,000 APT (over $87,000) worth of trades, with about 3,700 NFTs listed on its platform.

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https://decrypt.co/112525/aptos-nfts-network-scalability-tps

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