Aptos updates token economic model: supply cap of 2.1 billion tokens, with the foundation permanently locking 210 million APT

Deep Tide TechFlow News, February 19 — Aptos announced an update to the APT tokenomics model, shifting to a performance-driven token supply mechanism that links APT supply to actual network usage. The main changes include the following seven points:

Staking rewards significantly reduced: the annualized reward rate drops from approximately 5.19% to 2.6%, with a new framework exploring incentives for long-term stakers.

Gas fees increased tenfold: still maintaining extremely low costs (around $0.00014 for stablecoin transfers), aiming to reduce inefficient usage and support deflation.

Introduction of a new deflationary mechanism: large-scale APT burns through on-chain DEXs such as Decibel via high-frequency trading.

Hard supply cap: fixed at 2.1 billion APT, with no further issuance beyond this limit (current circulating supply ~1.196 billion, remaining reserve ~904 million, about 43%).

Foundation permanent lock-up: 210 million APT permanently staked and locked, never to be sold or distributed.

Grant and reward performance-based: future foundation funding/rewards will only be distributed after achieving key milestones like the “Global Transaction Engine.”

Initiation of programmatic buybacks: the foundation commits to exploring market buyback plans for APT, repurchasing based on opportunities and potentially burning or reserving the tokens.