Newly launched blockchain Aptos shared an overview of their tokenomics, sparking an outcry from several crypto investors who called it “one of the worst token distribution schemes.”
Following the launch of the Aptos mainnet, industry proponents criticized Aptos Labs for not sharing details of their proposed token allocation scheme. Some investors took aim at crypto exchanges Binance and FTX for listing the blockchain’s native APT token without publishing any insight on how tokens would be distributed.
On Oct. 18, Aptos shared an overview of their tokenomics with promises to deliver a “comprehensive explanation and values” in the near future. As per the document, Aptos has an initial total supply of 1 billion APT tokens, of which 19% will be allocated to core contributors, 16.50% to the Aptos Foundation and 13.48% to its investors.
This leaves 51.02%, or over 510 million tokens, to be distributed to the community. However, Aptos said that these tokens will be distributed over a 10-year period upon the completion of certain milestones. This means that of the 510 million tokens reserved for the community, 41% is currently held by the Aptos Foundation and 10% is held by Aptos Labs.
“The only way coins get into ‘the community’ (lol) is through arbitrary foundation distributions,” tweeted Polychain founder Olaf Carlson-Wee.
“So the entire supply is controlled by a bureaucracy which will grant the coins one-by-one. it’s also proof of stake so new coins cannot be earned by actors outside this distribution method I would love to hear an explanation from any person who thinks this design is good,” he added.
Many crypto investors interpreted the initial coin distribution to unfairly benefit the venture capitalists that invested in the project and the Aptos team itself.
“You just raised $350M. Why do you need to give yourselves another $500M worth of tokens that you’re going to eventually dump back on the community? Greed,” wrote pseudonymous crypto trader Kaleo on Twitter.
Later in the day, the Aptos Foundation announced an airdrop to early network participants where a total of 20,076,150 APT tokens will be airdropped to 110,235 users. Still, a number of users reported being unable to claim their airdropped tokens due to an “unexpected error.”
