Odaily Planet Daily reports that Aptos has announced an update to its APT tokenomics model, transitioning to a performance-driven token supply mechanism that ties APT supply to actual network usage. Specifically, this update includes the following seven key changes:
1. Reduce the staking reward rate and incentivize long-term stakers. The Aptos Foundation has proposed lowering the annualized staking reward rate from 5.19% to 2.6%. Additionally, the Aptos Foundation is exploring a governance proposal to modify the staking framework to better align incentives with long-term network participation.
2. Increase gas fees by 10 times. Aptos is currently one of the lowest-cost blockchains; given the currently low transaction fees, the Aptos Foundation will propose through governance to raise gas fees to ten times their current level. Even after this increase, the cost of transferring stablecoins on the network will remain as low as approximately $0.00014.
3. Trading utilization and fees. A new deflationary mechanism is introduced via Decibel, a decentralized exchange protocol on the Aptos chain, causing high-frequency trading activity to significantly consume and burn APT.
Currently, all payments made in APT on the network, including “gas fees,” are permanently burned. Decibel, incubated through a collaboration between Aptos Labs and the Decibel Foundation, represents one of the first fully decentralized exchanges where all trading activity occurs on-chain: every order, matching, and cancellation is executed on-chain. With 100% on-chain execution, Decibel’s mainnet launch will significantly increase the transaction throughput of the Aptos blockchain.
4. The hard supply cap is fixed at 2.1 billion APT. Once approved by the community, no new tokens beyond this limit can be minted.
5. The foundation permanently locks 210 million APT. The Aptos Foundation will ensure that 210 million APT are locked and permanently staked on the network. These tokens will never be sold or distributed and are permanently locked.
6. Performance-linked grant issuance. In the future, the Aptos Foundation will primarily focus on providing grants and rewards that will only be disbursed upon achieving key milestones related to Aptos’s role as a “global transaction engine.”
7. Launch an automated buyback program. The Aptos Foundation has committed to exploring a protocol buyback program or reserve that would automatically purchase APT on the open market based on market opportunities.