Conference Highlights:
Aptos CEO emphasizes: Tokens are the core of blockchain infrastructure operation.
Clear regulation is key for the U.S. to maintain innovation and retain developers.
Aptos has been implemented in various real-world scenarios such as payments, identity, finance, and entertainment.
Blockchain can be used in remote areas to achieve an "offline interaction, online settlement" payment experience.
On June 5, Aptos CEO Avery Ching appeared at a U.S. congressional hearing to testify on the significant topic of "The Future of American Innovation and Digital Assets: From Blueprint to Functional Framework," calling for a clearer regulatory framework for the digital asset market.
Avery's speech was rich in information and easy to understand, strongly recommending that Web3 investors and developers watch the full replay: https://www.youtube.com/live/14UhCiMTn0Q?si=OIELerblod4xlFzM
To help everyone quickly grasp the key points, Movemaker has summarized the main content of Avery's opening remarks and Q&A session, excerpted as follows (content has been lightly edited and condensed to retain core viewpoints).
Core Argument: APT is the Financial Infrastructure of the Next-Generation Digital Economy
Dear committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Avery Ching, and I am the co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs. Aptos Labs is the research and development team behind the Aptos blockchain, headquartered in the U.S., and we are proud to contribute to innovation and job creation in America.
In 2021, I founded Aptos Labs to drive the arrival of the next internet era, starting with the construction of a global, scalable, and highly secure blockchain network, ultimately aiming to transform areas such as payments, commerce, and digital identity.
Aptos is a high-performance, permissionless L1 blockchain designed to support internet-scale applications and billions of users.
Unlike centralized networks, applications (dApps) are built on a distributed network maintained by validators, developers, and users. Digital assets and tokens are crucial for the operation of distributed networks, providing incentives and governance mechanisms to keep the network secure.
First, Avery emphasized in his testimony that APT, as the native token of Aptos, is not a speculative asset in the traditional sense but a core element on which the entire Aptos network relies, fulfilling three key responsibilities:
Protecting the network by recording transactions on the blockchain. Users can choose to stake APT with validators to protect the network from malicious attacks. APT tokens are also used to reward validators for accurately recording transactions.
APT holders can propose and vote, ensuring decentralized decision-making.
APT is used to pay transaction fees. Although these amounts are small, they serve as a protective measure against spam transactions, ensuring the network remains secure and efficient.
Security, decentralization, and practicality are what enable blockchain networks like Aptos to support real-world applications at scale. Today, applications on the blockchain are no longer theoretical; over 1,000 developers are building on Aptos, with hundreds of applications providing value in finance, commerce, entertainment, and infrastructure.
The world's largest financial institutions, such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Apollo, have launched regulated tokenized money markets and funds on Aptos. This enhances transparency, enables real-time peer-to-peer transactions, and improves operational efficiency.
Secondly, from an application layer perspective, Avery indicated that whether it is Pact providing on-chain loans for developing markets, NBCUniversal leveraging Aptos to build fan engagement systems, or Jellybean tokenizing physical goods, these applications not only showcase Aptos's high scalability and composability but also confirm that blockchain is becoming the "operating system" of the new internet:
PACT Protocol is a credit protocol based on the Aptos blockchain, suitable for licensed lenders in emerging markets. The platform allows these lenders to provide loan services on the blockchain, offering transparency and efficiency for both lenders and borrowers. The PACT protocol has issued over $1 billion in loans, helping small businesses access capital more quickly to purchase equipment, open stores, or invest in clean energy.
Aptos also provides new forms of engagement in entertainment and commerce, such as issuing collectible digital tickets without intermediaries, significantly reducing costs while driving loyalty and fan engagement.
Aptos has established a long-term partnership with NBCUniversal to reconstruct fan experiences through blockchain-supported real-world experiences, loyalty programs, and interactive games.
Brands like Jellybean use Aptos to combine physical products with blockchain records, achieving immersive customer experiences and greater consumer trust through traceable, verified supply chain data.
These cases are just the first steps in a complete transformation of the internet. Just as the internet changed our daily lives, blockchain networks will form the core infrastructure of the digital economy, providing transparent, interoperable, and innovative systems.
Finally, Avery expressed his views on developing and protecting developers:
In every application on the blockchain, tokens play a crucial role. For blockchain innovation to develop responsibly in the U.S., developers need clear regulatory guidance on token issuance and distribution.
Thank you to the committee for its leadership in market structure and legislation, and for establishing consistent rules regarding token issuance and distribution to ensure networks like Aptos can operate as designed. U.S. developers can innovate while remaining compliant and competitive, and regulators can implement meaningful consumer protections.
The infrastructure is ready, and regulatory clarity will solidify our leadership in the new phase of the internet. We are always ready to collaborate with the committee and appreciate its leadership!
Q&A Session
To help readers quickly grasp the key points of the hearing, here are the five core takeaways from the Q&A session distilled by Movemaker:
1. The Practical Value and Function of Tokens
Q: What value do digital assets have today? What potential value do they hold for small businesses in the future?
Tokens are the means of interaction on the blockchain. They provide governance functions, staking capabilities for security, and opportunities for payments and representing digital identity worldwide. We are beginning to see new entrepreneurs adopting blockchain, with new ideas flourishing in the blockchain space, such as gaming projects and sports initiatives.
I believe this innovation is very important, not only to help U.S. developers bring these products across the country but also, from a broader perspective, to make them easier to use worldwide.
Q: How would you explain "What is Crypto?" to a beginner?
I want to preface this by acknowledging that the way we describe digital assets now is just a very neutral phrasing: used to execute use cases that are difficult to achieve in the traditional world, such as governance, staking, and supporting payments in a global and open world.
Today, no other technology can support these use cases. Therefore, Crypto is essentially a global infrastructure, much like we think of electricity or roads, upon which any application can be built. And tokens are the lifeline of that infrastructure.
What is Crypto? Perhaps the simplest way to describe it is as a utility token that allows you to make payments, govern, trade, and own a digital identity on a trustless and globally accessible infrastructure.
Q: What gives Crypto its value? How is it different from Pokémon cards?
It actually depends on the token and what the token represents.
In the case of APT, APT is the native token of Aptos, which can be used to pay transaction fees, stake to ensure network security, and for governance functions.
2. Financial Access in Remote Areas
Q: What role does the bill play in improving financial literacy for people in remote areas?
We are working very hard to support innovation, such as enabling blockchain to be used without internet access.
So you can imagine a world where, even without the internet, you can transact in the same way, and then at some future point when you have internet access, you can finalize those transactions on the blockchain.
Therefore, regulation will be very helpful in bringing this innovation to the U.S.
Many of the projects we have collaborated on in the past, including our own, have struggled to understand the chaotic rules and regulations, spending a lot of time and resources trying to comprehend them, ultimately being forced to issue tokens amid much uncertainty.
Other projects, even those without the rich resources we have, have had to struggle to move outside the U.S. or find other ways to tackle this challenge.
In summary, clarity will be very beneficial for innovation to occur in the U.S.
Q: How can we ensure the accessibility of digital assets, especially in remote rural areas with limited internet and financial knowledge, like Hawaii?
I believe education is an important component of this. Last year, I attended the first Hawaii Blockchain Summit and have been exploring discussions around license tokenization on the islands, as well as using blockchain technology to support different types of value exchange.
However, I also agree with your concern that the lack of broadband access makes it difficult for many people in Hawaii to experience and benefit from this technology.
Earlier, I mentioned that blockchain is undergoing a transformation, and perhaps even without internet access, you can still interact, and then have those transactions confirmed on the blockchain once users have internet access.
Therefore, Aptos Labs is exploring these technologies from our perspective to ensure that this can truly be realized in the future.
3. User Privacy Protection
Q: How do you address privacy concerns for American citizens who want to protect their privacy?
Today, most blockchains support very transparent operations, meaning that any transaction that occurs will be completely accessible, and everyone can see it. But this also means that these transactions cannot be changed, revoked, or rolled back.
At the same time, we are very accustomed to privacy when purchasing coffee or sandwiches. There are additional blockchain features being developed, and Aptos Labs and other companies are exploring or have already prototyped solutions that will support user privacy while complying with regulatory requirements.
So I believe we can have the benefits of transparency while also enjoying the benefits of privacy, all while meeting regulatory requirements.
4. The Relationship Between Blockchain and Agriculture
Q: As people joke, what does Crypto have to do with agriculture? Why is Crypto so critical for the future of agriculture?
The payment infrastructure on the blockchain is more efficient than traditional payment methods, allowing you to remit money globally for a fee of just 0.01 cents, with settlement occurring in one second.
It is not limited to one field or another. I believe it is crucial for anyone running a business or a farm to be able to support this technology and build programmable applications.
This is not just about payments; there are other use cases as well. You can also have multiple accounts simultaneously, and combining these ideas will be very useful for running a business.
5. The FTX Incident and Its Relationship with American Developers
Q: What are your thoughts on the FTX bankruptcy?
I believe the lack of clarity in regulation indeed led to the occurrence of the FTX bankruptcy incident.
Q: How can clear legislation ensure that the developer community stays in the U.S.?
As an entrepreneur, I can say that launching a token in the U.S. is challenging. In 2022, we faced many challenges and uncertainties when launching our own token.
We already know that the internet has produced many great innovations in the U.S., from Netflix to Facebook, to Amazon and Google, and so on. I would love to see the next innovative iteration from these entrepreneurs happen in Web3 and take place in the U.S.
To achieve this, we must have clear regulatory provisions. There are millions of programmers in the U.S. who are looking to work elsewhere, in other fields, because of the lack of clarity surrounding Crypto today.
Conclusion
From fintech to decentralized identity, from entertainment marketing to global payments, Aptos demonstrates the feasibility of blockchain technology in the real world. Avery's speech in Congress is a microcosm of Aptos's efforts to promote the "next generation of the internet" from the perspective of builders. In the global competition for the "next generation internet operating system," Aptos CEO provided a clear and rational voice, offering a coordinate system for developers and policymakers to co-create the future.
About Movemaker
Movemaker is the first official community organization authorized by the Aptos Foundation and jointly initiated by Ankaa and BlockBooster, focusing on promoting the construction and development of the Aptos ecosystem in the Chinese-speaking region. As the official representative of Aptos in the Chinese-speaking area, Movemaker is committed to building a diverse, open, and prosperous Aptos ecosystem by connecting developers, users, capital, and numerous ecological partners.
Disclaimer:
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