📝 From the Editorial Team:

Welcome to OurNetwork’s fourth issue focused on Aptos, a network which has come a long way since we first covered it in April 2024. 

Aptos’ total value locked (TVL) is up nearly 150% to $1.26B from $512M since OurNetwork’s first Aptos-focused issue, according to DeFiLlama. In APT terms, Aptos’ native token, the jump is even more stark — it’s hit 240.6M APT from 58.8M APT in late April. That’s an over a 300% increase, showing how strong the growth has been when accounting for crypto’s volatility.

There’s more to the story — this issue is jam-packed with the latest on the chain’s top DeFi protocols, across the lending, trading, and liquid staking space. We’ve got some bonus consumer coverage at the end too.

Enjoy!

• Q1 on Aptos set the tone for 2025. User activity is taking off with monthly actives nearing 15M. Meanwhile, Aptos ranks No. 4 by daily active users across all chains. Aptos also strengthened its position as a stablecoin powerhouse with the arrival of native USDC and USDe which have contributed over $200M in added stablecoin volume in 2025 — a 1000%+ increase year-over-year. Aptos continues to see strong DeFi momentum with projects like Aries Markets, Amnis Finance & Echo leading by TVL as DEX volumes soar.

• During the week of March 10, DEX volumes on Aptos soared by $100M over just 5 days to reach $13.1B. This $100M increase signals growing user activity driven by demand for Aptos-based assets & new yield opportunities. Earlier this month, DEX volumes hit $13B with a week-over-week 20% surge in trading volume.

• Aptos now supports the world’s biggest stables: USDT, USDC and USDe—ranking #4 by RWA TVL according to RWA.xyz. USDC, which recently surpassed $100M+ in native supply on Aptos, launched in Q1 along with Ethena's USDe, contributing over $200M in new stablecoin volume in Q1 and >1000% growth year-over-year.

• Aptos DeFi continues to see strong momentum with TVL circling $1B led by Aries Markets, Amnis Finance and Echo, with lending protocols like Aries Markets, Echelon, Meso Finance & Superposition contributing a combined ~$550M in TVL alone. To support this growth, Aptos Foundation recently committed over $200M in grants and investments to expand Aptos DeFi and fuel spot trading hubs, automated market makers (AMMs), concentrated liquidity market makers (CLMMs) and more. Doing so further positions Aptos as a top chain with deep liquidity & on-chain value movement.

• Aptos' bridged TVL has grown nearly $175M in 2025 to $647M. Bridged TVL reached a 2025 all-time-high of over $895M on Jan. 30 following the news of native USDC arriving on the network. Bridging transactions are driven primarily by LayerZero & Wormhole, as Aptos attracts new users seeking better yields & low fees.

• Aries Markets is the first and largest lending protocol on Aptos, leading the Move ecosystem with $600M in total deposits. As the liquidity hub on Aptos, Aries holds 70% of stable assets, with $220M in USDC and $200M in USDT. With recent support for sUSDe and 10%+ APY on stablecoins — up to 35% loopable yield — Aries is rapidly growing while offering lending, borrowing, and margin trading through the Aries DeFi Suite.

• Aries leads not only in stablecoins deposits but also dominates the borrowing market. Aries accounts for 68% of total stable assets borrowed, with $320M borrowed, including $156M in USDC and $166M in USDT, further solidifying its position as the liquidity hub on Aptos.

• Aries Markets continues to see steady growth in user adoption, with the total number of unique wallet addresses reaching 700,000. This reflects the increasing demand for Aries’ lending and trading services, further strengthening its position as the leading DeFi platform on Aptos.

• Amnis Finance issues number one liquid staking protocol on Aptos, managing over 33M APT token as of March 2025. Since its launch in October 2023, Amnis Finance has experienced exponential growth, with an impressive year-over-year growth of 1,882.1%. Amnis Finance also boosts capital efficiency by integrating staking tokens into other DeFi protocols, bringing more active users and driving total value locked (TVL) across the chain.

• Amnis Finance offers impressive rewards for APT staking with a median APY of 9.92%—the highest among liquid staking projects in the Aptos ecosystem and surpassing some liquid staking projects on Ethereum and Solana. The high yield attracts more capital flow from other chains to the Aptos ecosystem to earn rewards.

• In Q1 2025, monthly unique active wallets saw a 181% increase, soaring from 10,900 to 35,700. Highest weekly active wallets in February also jumped over 100%, from 9k to 20k in March, making Amnis the most active protocol on Aptos in terms of growth rate.

• As the largest DeFi protocol on Aptos, Thala plays a pivotal role in expanding stablecoin liquidity and cross-chain integrations. Ethena’s sUSDe, a fee-accruing version of the protocol's synthetic dollar, is officially live on Aptos via Thala’s metastable pools, making Thala the primary onchain venue for USDe liquidity outside Ethereum. The sUSDe-USDC pool has already reached over $30M in volume with an ~20% average APR, driven by deep liquidity incentives.

• ThalaSwap V2 accounted for $275M of Thala’s $328M decentralized exchange (DEX) volume in February, representing over 51% of all Aptos trading activity. Key features like fungible asset support, up to 6-asset pools, and fee tiers as low as 0.01% have strengthened Thala’s position as the core liquidity layer on Aptos.

• Thala’s liquidity pools offer some of the highest APRs in Move DeFi, with stablecoin pools averaging 12-30% yields across key pairs. Competitive rewards and deep liquidity make Thala the go-to platform for traders, LPs and borrowers in Aptos' DeFi ecosystem.

• Echelon is now the primary lending venue for Ethena’s sUSDe on Aptos, holding $50.75M sUSDe supplied, which accounts for over 93% of the stablecoin’s total circulating supply. This cements Echelon as a core layer for stablecoin lending on Move.

• Echelon has surpassed $160M in TVL, with $258M total supplied assets and $92M borrowed, solidifying its lead as Move’s largest lending protocol. In February, it crossed $150M TVL, marking rapid growth driven by its high LTV efficiency and deep liquidity.

• Echelon’s stablecoin markets provide some of the highest lending APYs in DeFi, competing with top protocols across all ecosystems. Stable asset deposits earn up to ~14% APR, far exceeding most lending protocols on Aptos and beyond.

• Merkle Trade is a leading user-friendly leverage trading platform, designed to make trading seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable for everyone. As evidence for this, the platform has generated over $20B in volume and attracted 160k+ traders in 15 months. Volume surged to $3B+ in the first two months of 2025, boosted by gamified rewards, like a slot-machine raffle system. This growth is especially notable, because it occurred long after Merkle's token generation event, highlighting genuine user activity rather than airdrop speculation.

• User satisfaction, as indicated by increasing user engagement, is clearly demonstrated by a remarkable growth in average revenue per user (ARPU) of over 1,000% year-over-year. Building on this validation of user satisfaction, the project is now focused on expanding its user base to drive continued growth.

• Price-to-Fee (P/F) ratio indicates that MKL is significantly undervalued relative to the revenue it generates. Merkle Trade fully diluted value (FDV) P/F ratio currently stands at just 1.5x, substantially lower than peer protocols like APX, which trades at a much higher 23.5x, highlighting MKL's attractive valuation.

• TVL for Echo Protocol, a BTCfi protocol, remained stable at around $210M from December 2024 to early 2025, reflecting strong user confidence despite BTC's price fluctuations. Echo has consistently maintained this TVL over the past four months, highlighting its role in facilitating cross-chain transactions, enhancing liquidity, and reinforcing trust. This stability is crucial for long-term growth in the Aptos DeFi ecosystem.

• After reaching a peak of $269M in December last year, Echo Bridge has remained stable above $200M. Although affected by BTC price fluctuations, the overall trend reflects the resilience of the ecosystem and indicates continued user participation and confidence.

• Echo Lending supports multiple mainstream tokens, including aBTC, APT, USDT, USDC, eAPT, and truAPT, with a total TVL of approximately $206M. Leveraging these diverse assets, Echo has introduced various strategies to provide users with more yield opportunities and enhance capital efficiency.

• Hyperfluid, is an onchain hybrid Orderbook-AMM DEX on Aptos, optimizing for high throughput and low latency making smooth trading for users. On Mar. 14, Hyperfluid was ranked first in 24-hour spot volume on Aptos. These high trading volume generates strong returns for liquidity providers through the fee generated, showing how effective a CLMM feature can be.

• Hyperfluid has achieved a 24-hour trading volume of $3.48M, contributing to an all-time cumulative volume of $86.68M.

• Hyperfluid's total swap volume hit $80.6M. Average swap volume reached $369.91 per transaction, highlighting active trading and engagement. Median volume at $107.8 indicates frequent smaller transactions, showcasing broad community participation with daily swap volumes peaking on March 9.

• With $43.35M TVL, Cellana is Aptos' largest DEX. It's also among the top 8 Aptos protocols by TVL, solidifying its role as a key liquidity hub. Built on the ve(3,3) model, Cellana optimizes liquidity incentives for sustainable growth. Consistent inflows and active governance drive engagement, while strategic incentives aim to expand adoption and strengthen its DeFi presence.

• Cellana’s circulating supply is 346.4M CELL tokens, with a $5.3M market cap and $648K annualized fees. Steady growth reflects strong adoption, while liquidity incentives and governance drive expansion. Cellana is poised for its next phase of scaling and innovation.

• Cellana Finance has 802 daily active addresses, showing an upward trend in engagement. As a ve(3,3) DEX, its incentives and governance continue to drive adoption, reinforcing its growing role in Aptos' DeFi ecosystem

• KGeN is building the distribution layer of web3 & AI. KGeN has emerged as the dominant leader in the Global South with 18M+ consumers, 4M+ monthly active users and 190+ revenue partnerships across gaming, AI and DeFi projects. As of February 2025, it has an annualized revenue of over $23M. At the heart of it is the proprietary Proof-of-Gamer (POG) Engine built on top of 373M+ attributes to garner unparalleled insights across its user base. It allows users to build, own, flex & monetise their reputation.

• Since 2022, KGeN has been aggregating millions of micro communities across emerging markets and onboarding them to Web3. 4.3M monthly active users are driven primarily by being at the forefront of Web2 to Web3 adoption, multi-chain operability and partnerships across DeFi, Gaming and AI projects.

• There have been over 1M POG Mints, over 18M consumers, and 374M Data Attributes. These numbers power the POG Engine across Global South especially in South Asia, LATAM, Nigeria, Southeast Asia and MENA. The POG engine allows consumers to build, own, flex & monetise their reputation and fuels KGeN's augmented agentic large language model (LLM), POG-E.