Key Highlights
- Aptos cuts staking rewards, raises gas fees, and introduces a 2.1B token cap to align supply with real network activity.
- Decibel DEX and higher fees could burn over 32M APT yearly, reducing circulating supply and moving toward deflation.
- Performance-based rewards, locked tokens, and potential buybacks tie APT issuance to results, not automatic distribution.
Aptos Foundation is changing its tokenomics design to link supply and rewards more closely to network activity. The update includes a hard cap on total tokens, higher transaction burns, and reward mechanisms tied to performance.
In an update shared on X, the foundation said the proposal moves Aptos away from its earlier high-inflation model toward a system where token issuance reflects actual use on the network. These changes are designed so that tokens removed from circulation could eventually exceed new tokens issued, making its token APT’s supply potentially deflationary over time.
Aptos currently processes blocks in under 50 milliseconds and maintains 99.99% uptime with no major security incidents. Around 500 developers are active each month, supporting nearly 9,700 open-source projects.
More than 200 applications are live across areas like DeFi, payments, and infrastructure, generating $33.5 million in revenue, a 1,552% increase compared with earlier periods. Large institutions such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Apollo have invested hundreds of millions on the network, showing growing participation from institutional players.
From subsidy to sustainable supply
The foundation plans to lower staking rewards from 5.19% to 2.6%, aiming to reduce token emissions while keeping validators engaged long-term. At the same time, participants who lock their tokens for longer periods may receive higher rewards, linking incentives to commitment. A new validator system under AIP-139 is also expected to reduce operational costs for those securing the network.
The foundation claims that transaction fees are currently very low, which will increase tenfold. All fees paid in APT are burned, removing tokens from circulation. Even with the increase, stablecoin transfers would remain very low, at about $0.00014 per transaction.
Combined with expected higher trading activity on Decibel, a leading decentralized exchange within Aptos ecosystem, this could burn over 32 million APT per year. Decibel processes every order, match, and cancel on-chain, so higher trading volumes directly reduce the circulating token supply.
Hard caps and locked foundation tokens
Aptos will implement a hard cap of 2.1 billion APT, capping the total supply while maintaining staking rewards. At present, there are approximately 1.196 billion APT in circulation, leaving 43% of the tokens for future rewards, which will gradually reduce as the cap is reached. In addition, the foundation will lock 210 million APT, staking 18% of the current total supply to secure the network.
Future token rewards will be performance-based. Tokens will only be released after certain milestones are reached, connecting rewards to results. The foundation is also considering a buyback program that will buy APT from the market, thereby affecting the total supply of tokens in circulation.
Real-world applications and institutional growth
Aptos Labs recently partnered with Hong Kong’s central bank-supported Project e-HKD+, in collaboration with HKMA, Hang Seng Bank, and BCG, to pilot the settlement of tokenized funds. This pilot project enables the transfer of funds between Hong Kong and mainland China to be accomplished twice as quickly.
Also, in October last year, Aptos added the USD1 stablecoin through World Liberty Financial, becoming the first Move-based blockchain to handle a programmable stablecoin. Users can access USD1 immediately through wallets and exchanges like OKX, Gate, Backpack, and Petra Wallet, making transactions seamless for both retail and institutional investors.
Despite the tokenomics update, APT is down 5.6% over 24 hours, currently trading at $0.8663, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
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