Aptos (APT) Surges to $4.90 Amid Token Unlocks and Plummeting Fees—What’s Next?

Aptos just punched through the $4.90 barrier—despite a flood of new tokens hitting the market and transaction fees nosediving. Is this resilience or just another crypto head-fake?

Heavy unlocks, weak fees—bulls don’t care. APT’s price action defies the usual ‘supply glut’ panic, leaving traders scrambling. Either the market’s pricing in something big, or this is the calm before the next VC dump.

Watch the fee trajectory. If APT keeps cutting costs without killing demand, it might just dodge the ‘ghost chain’ curse haunting other Layer 1s. Or, you know, it’s crypto—tomorrow could bring a 40% rug pull. Happy trading!

• Aptos lost almost 35% of its market cap in H1 2025, sliding to $3.2B.
• Token unlocks, reduced staking rewards, and slowing usage shaped the mid-year picture.
• Monthly active users stayed above 10M despite Q2 declines in transactions and addresses.

Halfway into 2025, Aptos finds itself in a tug-of-war between network growth efforts and market headwinds. Its circulating market capitalization sits at $3.2 billion, down sharply from the start of the year.

According to the latest Messari report, APT has fallen from $8.70 to $4.90 in six months, a drop of 43.7%. Each month’s fresh supply release adds to the pressure, with 11.31 million tokens unlocking across team, ecosystem, foundation, and private investor allocations.

The largest slice, about 35.4%, goes to team holdings. Ecosystem grants account for 28.3%, though most remain with the Foundation and Aptos Labs before distribution.

Private investors, including early backers like FTX Ventures, get nearly a quarter of each monthly unlock. The Foundation’s share, roughly 11.5%, funds events, legal work, and research sponsorships.

Fees Shrink, Rewards Tighten

Protocol earnings tell another side of the story. From a $598,000 revenue peak in late 2024, fees collected fell to $446,000 in Q1 and then dropped again to $214,400 in Q2. All of it is burned, yet the effect barely dents inflation because staking payouts and new unlocks flood the market.

June brought a change in that equation. Governance proposal AIP-119 trimmed staking rewards from 6.79% to 6.54%, with further reductions scheduled to reach 5.26% over seven months.

The move, aimed at curbing inflation and nudging yield-hunters toward restaking or DeFi activity, also brings Aptos closer in line with Ethereum’s reward rates.

Aptos Staking Hits $4.3B with Record Validator Count in Q2

The network’s momentum cooled in Q2. Daily transactions slipped to 3.2 million, down from 3.5 million, while active addresses dropped to 904,800. Yet monthly active users stayed consistently above the 10 million mark, a milestone first hit in late 2024.

Smart contract activity remained lively thanks to blockchain gaming. The tap-to-earn title Defi Cattos saw more than 339,000 daily interactions, outpacing AptosFramework and Kratos Gamer Network.

Even with cheaper transaction costs, up to 100 times lower than some rival Layer-1s, address retention rates stayed flat around 25%.

By the close of Q2, 877.9 million APT were staked, worth $4.3 billion. Validator count reached a record 152, while the Nakamoto coefficient held at 18, signaling decentralization that ranks above the median for major Layer-1 chains.