Aptos DeFi gets bolstered by new entrant: Can APT mirror this surge
Thala Labs, which made its debut on the Aptos mainnet just a week ago, was already the largest protocol on the chain in terms of TVL, providing significant impetus to its DeFi activity.
– Aptos’ TVL surged 47% over the last week.
– Development activity grew steadily since the beginning of 2023.
The value of assets deposited on the layer-1 blockchain Aptos [APT] saw steep growth in the last few days. As per data from DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) clocked a monthly expansion rate of a whopping 64%, while weekly growth rate was to the tune of nearly 47%.
Realistic or not, here’s APT market cap in BTC’s terms
The remarkable growth could be attributed to the recently launched protocol, Thala Labs, which has taken Aptos’ DeFi landscape by storm.
Debutant creates a flutter
Thala Labs, which made its debut on the Aptos mainnet just a week ago, was already the largest DeFi protocol on the chain in terms of TVL. Since its launch, its TVL has jumped more than five times.
The protocol held over $25 million of assets at press time, commanding a 40% share in Aptos’s DeFi ecosystem.
In less than a week since mainnet deployment, Thala has already amassed over $24M TVL, becoming the largest protocol on @Aptos_Network.
Enabling a flourishing DeFi ecosystem on Aptos is our #1 priority, and we’re excited to continue to build and innovate to make this a reality! pic.twitter.com/xoSmRbRTkW
— Thala (@ThalaLabs) April 13, 2023
Powered by Move programming language, Thala was building a decentralized, over-collateralized stablecoin called Move Dollar, which will be the first stablecoin of the Aptos ecosystem.
Aptos’ expanding DeFi landscape could be attributed to the upgrades and enhancements that the chain introduced recently. Through its AIP-17 release, Aptos released improvements to gas usage, aimed at reducing gas fees on the network significantly.
1/ NEW ON APTOS: Lower Gas Fees! 🧵
Aptos just released major gas improvements through AIP-17 — significantly increasing the efficiency of gas.
Users will see a 100x improvement in execution gas usage with 90% of transactions seeing at least a 10x improvement 👇 https://t.co/3sFkqtPSL5
— Aptos (@Aptos) April 11, 2023
DEX volume grows sharply
Complementing the growth in TVL, the weekly decentralized exchange volume (DEX) on Aptos also registered an impressive growth rate of over 57%. Transactions worth more than $6 million were settled on the DEXes, almost exclusively driven by LiquidSwap.
Taking a tour of APT
As far as APT was concerned, it was one of the biggest gainers in the last 24 hours, as its price soared 14% at press time, data from CoinMarketCap showed. On a weekly basis, it was up 16%, implying that growth in DeFi space was positively impacting the token.
How much are 1,10,100 APTs worth today?
Trading volume of the token remained sluggish in March, which could be due to macro-economic factors. However, over the last few days, it showed signs of revival. With the rise in volume, weighted sentiment entered positive territory, indicating that bullish expectations were gaining strength.
One of the most positive developments was the sharp growth in development activity, signaling that the chain was continuously upgrading its features.
