Aptos [APT] 'outperforms' other chains on this front, but here's the 'but' of it all

Aptos was the fastest among major networks with a block finality time of less than a second
The average transactions per second on Aptos network declined steadily since launch

While it’s still quite early, Aptos [APT] can be safely counted as one of the success stories of 2023.

The value of its native token more than tripled on a year-to-date (YTD) basis while its market cap exploded past the $1 billion-mark over the same time period.

Amidst all the hype, on-chain analytics firm Messari recently shared an important report about the block finality times across blockchains. As per the report, Aptos is the fastest among major networks with a median time-to-finality (TTF) value of less than a second.

1/ Time to finality (TTF) is often overlooked.

As crypto continues to evolve, high-value applications may end up prioritizing the fastest finality times, and hence the networks that prioritize fast finality.

Let’s analyze finality across crypto networks. pic.twitter.com/GgRDXFeGOc

— Messari (@MessariCrypto) March 3, 2023

Realistic or not, here’s APT’s market cap in BTC’s terms

Aptos yet to realize potential

Aptos has pitched itself as the fastest layer-1 blockchain, capable of processing more than 160k transactions per second (TPS). Unlike other blockchains, Aptos uses a parallel execution mechanism, one which helps in reducing latency and generating faster transaction speeds.

With a very low TTF, as pointed out by the aforementioned analysis, Aptos can be accessible for a huge number of users at a time. Especially when some of the other popular chains suffer from scaling constraints.

However, despite the big claims, the average TPS on the network has declined steadily since launch. In fact, it stood at just 5.51, at the time of writing.

Source: Aptoscan

One of the reasons behind the disparity could be because the chain’s limits haven’t been tested yet due to insufficient activity.

Solana [SOL], against which APT has been consistently positioned, has a slightly higher TTF range of 1-2 seconds. However, it is one of the fastest when its large node count is considered. Aptos has a node count of only 104.

How much are 1,10,100 APTs worth today?

State of the Aptos Network

Aptos recorded a significant decline in the total funds deposited on its smart contracts. The total value locked (TVL) fell by more than 13% over the last 30 days.

Source: DeFiLlama

On the other hand, the NFT trading volume picked up with a 24-hour hike of 134%, as of 6 March, data from Santiment revealed.

Furthermore, the development activity metric appreciated sharply over the past week. This indicated that developers have been continuously working to clean out the glitches and improve network performance.

That being said, investors’ sentiment has been negative over the past month. This could be due to a combination of regulatory uncertainties which have gripped the broader crypto-market. Here, it’s worth highlighting APT’s underwhelming price performance in February, one during which it shed more than 30% of its value.