Avery Ching's Review: A Year of 'VC Chains' Dominated by Aptos

• Mapping BlockChain Pioneers: Avery Ching and the Aptos Project
• Competing Chains and Projects
• Technological Advancements and Criticisms
• Challenges and Controversies
• Future Prospects and Criticisms

Mapping BlockChain Pioneers: Avery Ching and the Aptos Project

A plethora of notable figures could have been nominated in conjunction with Avery Ching for the most influential list this year. Ching, in his role as Chief Technology Officer at Matonee, has significantly contributed to the development of the blockchain, Aptos (APT), which stands out in the next-generation chains. Many of these chains have also received substantial financial backing and recently entered public platforms or started gaining momentum in 2023.

Determining which of these chains, if any, could fundamentally disrupt the crypto world is a challenging task. This profile is a part of the Most Influential 2023 compilation.

Competing Chains and Projects

Several Ethereum$2,315 -2.42% (ETH) scaling solutions are emerging, including Base BASE, Blast and Celestia TIA, which uses Cosmos (ATOM) software. Other prominent networks to watch include modular chains like Fuel Network and ThorChain (RUNE) and projects such as Sei (SEI), Shardeum and Sui (SUI). Out of these, Sui and Aptos share a common origin and end-goal, thereby increasing competition between these chains. Both projects were initiated by the blockchain subsidiary Meta (formerly Facebook), established in 2019 to develop its stablecoin Diem (formerly Libra). Both chains aim to scale a crypto network to hundreds of thousands of transactions.

Mysten Labs is developing Aptos and Sui using the same custom programming language (Move, originally developed for the discontinued Facebook stablecoin project), with the majority of the team members being ex-Meta employees. Each project has also raised hundreds of millions of dollars from venture capitalist investors, including a16z, FTX$3.28 -5.38% Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Binance Labs.

Technological Advancements and Criticisms

Both chains represent significant technological advancements in blockchain design, with founding teams making agreements with influential institutional players. However, they have also faced similar criticisms regarding their long-term tokenomics and performance at launch. Both Aptos and Sui have faced scrutiny over scheduled unlocks that will introduce a large number of SUI and APT tokens to the market.

The story of Avery Ching and the inception of Aptos testifies to the increasing trend of venture-capital-backed chains. Aptos's co-founders Mo Shaikh and Ching left Meta in December 2021 to leverage the open-source technology they had worked on. After mutual bonding over basketball and ambitions of launching a product, they began their venture. Ching's focus was on coding the Diem blockchain, while Shaikh led strategic partnerships at the Novi wallet division.

Challenges and Controversies

In early March, Matonee and CEO Shaikh faced a lawsuit from Shari Glazer and Swoon Capital for breach of contract. Aptos dismissed the case on the grounds that the deal between Glazer and Shaikh was non-binding. Glazer had requested not to raise additional capital, which Shaikh dismissed as insufficient for their project.

Future Prospects and Criticisms

The multi-million dollar funding rounds for new blockchains like Aptos raise several questions and criticisms. While a significant portion of APT tokens are planned to be distributed in monthly token unlocks for the next 10 years, this could put sell pressure on the token. Notable crypto commentators have criticized Aptos for a lack of transparency during the token listing process.

New mega-valuations for infrastructure is a rising trend that may be triggering concerns in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC took several years to negotiate settlements with the largest Initial Coin Offering (ICO) raisers, EOS$0.852 -2.05% and Telegram. Time will tell if protocols like Aptos and Sui are utilized to build anything beneficial.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker