– Aptos TVL is up 47% in the past week.
– Development activity has been growing steadily since early 2023.
The value of assets deposited on the layer-1 blockchain Aptos [APT] saw strong growth in recent days. According to data from DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) clocked a monthly growth rate of a whopping 64%, while the weekly growth rate was close to 47%.
Realistic or not, here is APT’s market cap in terms of BTC
The remarkable growth can be attributed to the recently launched protocol, Thala Labs, which has taken the Aptos DeFi landscape by storm.
Debutant causes a stir
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, the TVL has increased more than five times.
The protocol held more than $25 million in assets at the time of going to press, representing a 40% share of the Aptos DeFi ecosystem.
In less than a week since mainnet implementation, Thala has already amassed more than $24 million TVL, making it the largest protocol in the world. @Aptos_Network.
Enabling a thriving DeFi ecosystem on Aptos is our #1 priority, and we are excited to continue building and innovating to make it a reality! pic.twitter.com/xoSmRbRTkW
— Thala (@ThalaLabs) April 13, 2023
Powered by the Move programming language, Thala built a decentralized, over-collateralized stable currency called Move Dollar, which will be the first stablecoin of the Aptos ecosystem.
Aptos’ growing DeFi landscape can be attributed to the upgrades and improvements the chain has recently introduced. Through the AIP-17 release, Aptos has released gas usage improvements aimed at significantly reducing gas rates on the network.
1/ NEW AT APTOS: Lower gas costs! 🧵
Aptos has just released major gas improvements via AIP-17, significantly increasing gas efficiency.
Users will see a 100x improvement in execution gas consumption, with 90% of transactions seeing an improvement of at least 10x 👇 https://t.co/3sFkqtPSL5
— Aptos (@Aptos_Network) April 11, 2023
DEX volume is growing strongly
Complementing the growth in TVL, the weekly decentralized exchange (DEX) volume on Aptos also registered an impressive growth of over 57%. Transactions worth more than $6 million were settled on the DEXes, driven almost exclusively by LiquidSwap.
Tour of APT
As for APT, it was one of the biggest gainers in the past 24 hours as the price rose 14% at press time, data from CoinMarketCap showed. On a weekly basis, it was up 16% implying that the growth in DeFi space had a positive impact on the token.
How much are 1,10,100 APTs worth today?
The token’s trading volume remained sluggish in March, which could be due to macroeconomic factors. In recent days, however, it has shown signs of revival. With the rise in volume came weighted sentiment in a positive direction, indicating that optimistic expectations strengthened.
One of the most positive developments was the strong growth in development activity, a signal that the chain was constantly improving its functions.