Aptos (APT) Staking

About Aptos (APT)

Aptos is a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain that is built on the fundamental principles of scalability, safety, reliability, and upgradeability. Emerging out of extensive research and development work associated with Meta's Diem and Novi projects, Aptos made its debut in October 2022, thus offering a solid and production-ready platform aimed at enabling universal and equitable access to Web3 for billions of users.

The vision for Aptos is to deliver a blockchain that can overcome the common roadblocks of outages, high costs, low throughput, and security vulnerabilities that have historically hindered widespread adoption. To achieve this, Aptos utilizes the Move programming language, created specifically for safe asset management and secure smart contract development. Coupled with a bytecode verifier and Move Prover, this reduces the threat of exploits and ensures that assets are not duplicated or lost, making it easier to build secure decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

Performance is a cornerstone of the Aptos design. The network employs a sophisticated, pipelined, and modular architecture where key stages of transaction processing: dissemination, ordering, parallel execution, batch storage, and ledger certification - operate concurrently. This is supercharged by the Block-STM parallel execution engine, a groundbreaking technology that uses optimistic concurrency control to process transactions in parallel.

Secured by a Proof-of-Stake model with AptosBFTv4, a low-latency BFT protocol, Aptos allows users to delegate tokens to validators for rewards. In June 2025, Aptos began a significant evolution of its consensus protocol with the mainnet launch of Baby Raptr. This upgrade is the first production-stage component of Raptr, a next-generation BFT consensus protocol that streamlines how the network verifies and agrees upon transactions. By building a flexible infrastructure that can accommodate frequent and comprehensive live upgrades, Aptos is laying the foundation for future decentralization, which will be easier, secure, and performance-oriented.

What makes Aptos special?

• The Move Programming Language: Aptos uses Move, a secure and flexible programming language designed for secure smart contracts. It uses formal verification to help developers write safer code for DeFi and game applications, protecting against common vulnerabilities.
• High-Speed Parallel Execution: At the core of Aptos's performance is the Block-STM engine, which enables the parallel execution of transactions. This system uses optimistic concurrency control to process transactions simultaneously and has the ability to handle complex transactions dynamically.
• Pipelined and Modular Architecture: The overall transaction-processing cycle is separated into independent, parallelizable phases. The modularity of the system serves to better utilize hardware, improve throughput, minimize latency, and allow frequent, transparent updates of the network.
• Advanced Consensus: The leader reputation system improves performance and security. The network continues to be under ongoing improvement in speed and scalability, and the Baby Raptr upgrade is an excellent example, which reduced latency by 20%.
• Enhanced User Safety: Aptos incorporates multiple safeguards for users. This includes flexible key management that allows for key rotation and hybrid custody models, as well as transaction pre-execution services that can show users the outcome of a transaction before they sign it.
• Empowering the Gaming Future: The gaming-oriented ecosystem of Aptos aims to create a more interoperable and decentralized online playground. To empower developers, Aptos Labs has created a Software Development Kit (SDK) designed specifically for the popular game engine, Unity.
• AI-Powered Web3 Accessibility: In collaboration with Microsoft, the network is leveraging the Azure OpenAI Service to create groundbreaking AI tools, including the Aptos Assistant. The goal of this initiative is to make onboarding and dApp creation easier, hence making Web3 more user and developer-friendly.

Aptos Staking FAQ

What is the APT token?

APT is the native token of the Aptos blockchain. The uses of APT tokens include payment of network transaction fees, voting in on-chain governance, and increasing blockchain security through the Proof-of-Stake algorithm. With the introduction of the mainnet, the initial supply of Aptos (APT) tokens was set at 1 billion tokens. The token distribution is carried out systematically by way of multiple distributions in accordance with specific timeframes for release.

Where to buy APT?

APT is available for purchase on most major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken.

What is the minimum stake required in APT?

Staking can be started with at least 11 APT. It is important to keep a small amount of APT in your own wallet to pay for transaction fees.

How long does it take to start earning staking rewards?

Your APT stake becomes active and starts earning rewards after the end of the ongoing epoch, which usually takes about two hours. After that, the rewards are released at the end of every subsequent two-hour epoch.

Are my APT staking rewards compounded automatically?

Yes, they are. These rewards are automatically added into your staked balance at the end of every epoch, hence enabling your stake to grow over time without requiring the process of claiming and re-staking.

How do I access my earned APT rewards?

To send, swap, or otherwise use your rewards, you first need to unstake your APT. Since the rewards are already compounding, they are a portion of your overall staked balance until the unstake procedure begins.

What is the process for unstaking APT?

Your stake will be eligible for withdrawal after the completion of the lockup period of the delegation pool, which can be from 0 to 30 days. Note that your unlocked stake still earns rewards until it is made completely withdrawable.

Is it safe to stake APT tokens?

Yes, staking on Aptos is a self-custodial process. Validators do not have control over your funds, they only validate transactions as part of the consensus mechanism. You are in full ownership and control of your APT tokens via your private keys.

Can I use my APT tokens while they are staked?

When your APT tokens are in a stake, they are locked to maintain the network. However, you can participate in liquid staking through platforms on Aptos like Amnis Finance, Tortuga Finance, and Thala Labs. These services provide you with a tokenized derivative of your staked assets, which you can then use in DeFi applications while still earning staking rewards.