Interview with Aptos Labs Co-founder CEO: People can mistake ease of use for user-first technology, what sets Aptos apart is our dev-focused technology.

Author：JulianKin & Stoneberri, AptosGlobal

Editor：TechFlow

New L1/L2s are constantly emerging in the market. According to incomplete statistics, there are still more than 60 Layer1s that have not yet launched their mainnets. Aptos, as a once red-hot MOVE-based Layer1, is gradually starting its own development journey after experiencing the market hype.

TechFlow is fortunate to team up with AptosGlobal to invite Mo Shaikh, the co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, for an interview. Let's talk about Aptos's ecological progress and future plans in this year.

TechFlow: Can you please share your background briefly? What chance made you learn about blockchain and start building in this industry?

Mo Shaikh: I’m Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, proud Brooklyn native, and first-gen Pakistani American. My parents immigrated to New York in 1989. They raised their five kids to be empathetic, hard-working Americans. I learned a lot from them, including the socioeconomic value of being able to share value with people you care about, from your neighbors to people living on the other side of the world.

My journey to Aptos and Web3 winds through global finance with stints at BlackRock and the Royal Bank of Canada; management consulting at BCG; and in blockchain as an advisor to the World Economic Forum, Meta executive, founder, and CEO of Consensys-backed Meridio.

Aptos Labs was founded on a vision to bring social and economic value to people all over the world, using technology that's fundamentally decentralized and easy to use.

TechFlow: What do you see as the intersection between traditional networks and blockchain? How do you think Web3 can kickstart mass adoption and onboard the next billion users?

Mo Shaikh:Traditional networks are easy to use, and that’s their greatest strength. But people can mistake ease of use for user-first technology. That's where our team does things differently. At Aptos Labs, we really put a lot of emphasis on improving the developer experience. By doing so, we're helping builders create something truly great for the end-user.

While Web3 has incredible benefits, it hasn’t achieved mass adoption because barriers to entry have been too high for too long. That’s something that our team strives to address with every resource, product, and proposed upgrade introduced. For example: To celebrate Aptos’ first anniversary, the Aptos Labs team launched Graffio, inviting everyone from the Aptos ecosystem and beyond to contribute. The app went viral in minutes, garnering 1.8 million pageviews, 75 million pixels drawn on a 1 million pixel canvas, and attracting over 331K new users to Graffio art. The activation broke barriers, thanks to Aptos’ unmatched time to finality, unparalleled security, and innovative use of the Move programming language.

TechFlow: It has been a year since Aptos mainnet launched, how would you summarize what Aptos has accomplished in this remarkable year?

Mo Shaikh: One year ago, I thought numbers like 111 (validator nodes), 24 (active countries), 43 (active cities) would be unattainable. But since the mainnet, the ecosystem has achieved that and more. In the last twelve months, Aptos Labs has collaborated with Web2 giants like NBCU to create immersive fan experiences for blockbuster hits like The Exorcist: Believer, and Renfield; created a groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind music festival with KYD Labs powered completely by Web3 and featuring Pitbull.

If it's happening in Web3, it's happening on Aptos – and that’s reflective of the impressive ecosystem that’s come to life on top of Aptos.

TechFlow: There are many Layer 1 blockchain platforms out there. What do you think sets Aptos apart from other blockchain platforms?

Mo Shaikh: There are definitely some strong Layer 1 platforms out there, but what sets Aptos apart is our dev-focused technology. It's really geared towards giving developers the guidance and support they need throughout their building process. Our ecosystem is rich with tools and a solid tech foundation that helps developers turn their innovative ideas into reality with ease. What's key here is the built-in reliability, scalability, and security at the infrastructure layer. As of now, Aptos stands as the blockchain with the lowest latency and highest throughput in the market, and a lot of that success comes down to the advanced technology we use.

TechFlow: Can you briefly explain to the readers about Move language and how Move will play a role in the future development of smart contracts?

Mo Shaikh: Move is Aptos’ breakthrough programming language, designed to help developers get from ideation to production securely and as quickly as possible.

Move on Aptos continuously evolves to enhance the security and performance of its dApps and integrations. It upgrades on a near-monthly basis, making sure that Aptos’ devs are automatically and constantly equipped with the latest and greatest tech to advance their projects. Move also helped Aptos put forth the first fully reproducible performance benchmark test that kicked off an industry-wide conversation around the definition of ‘performance’ with an eye toward consensus.

By offering parallel execution methods, Move allows for simultaneous task completion and makes transactions on Aptos faster and cheaper than they would be elsewhere, while also prioritizing security by subjecting assets to restrictions that prevent them from being copied or destroyed.

TechFlow: Aptos is a Layer-1 community-driven network, governed by the people who build on it from around the world. Can you share a bit about how that ecosystem has grown over the past year?

Mo Shaikh: The Aptos community has grown exceptionally over the past year, from a commendable 30 projects at the mainnet launch to over 200 live projects today across DeFi, NFTs, dApps, gaming, and more. And it’s really just getting started.

From the very beginning, Aptos’ developer community has been unique, constantly striving to bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 with increasingly groundbreaking on-chain innovations—all built natively on Aptos.

This year, the Aptos World Tour Hackathons were held in Seoul, Amsterdam, and Singapore. The Hackathons not only offered a Move-powered platform for international developers to showcase UX-rich projects, but the series expanded Aptos’ global community even further. The Aptos Labs team has also enthusiastically supported hackathon projects – like the recently launched Aptos Arena, and looks forward to supporting more in the future.

In the year to come, I’m looking forward to continuing to travel in support of devs in different parts of the world to grow the Aptos community even further.

TechFlow: It is your personal goal to build a financial system that is accessible to everyone. This path is crucial for blockchain. What exciting developments can we expect to see from Aptos in the coming year?

Mo Shaikh: While I can’t give too much away, I can say this: In the days and years to come, Aptos Labs will consistently push Web3 closer to mass adoption with an unwavering focus on user experience, interoperability, reliability, and scalability. We’re also constantly pursuing ways to nurture our existing partnerships while making new impacts in regions with great potential for mass adoption, like APAC.

I’m deeply appreciative of the contributions that Aptos Labs has made to the ecosystem, and I’m looking forward to exciting times ahead.

About AptosGlobal

AptosGlobal is an APAC-based community dedicated to Aptos ecosystem through holding events, developer education, building communities and making bilingual content. AptosGlobal has produced 50+ original articles and videos and held 10+ events of Aptos Ecosystem.

AptosGlobal was established in July 2022, and has been a recipient of an Aptos Foundation grant.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AptosGlobalHQ

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