Facebook (now Meta) announced its plans to launch a stablecoin backed by a basket of global currencies in 2019. However, it encountered strong retaliation from the regulators. Long story short, the project faded into oblivion.

However, the people who put the work into it weren’t ready to give up. The tech built by the technological giant is nothing short of a Ferrari of the blockchain space. That’s how people often refer to Move, Libra’s programming language.

Two teams, Aptos Labs and Mysten Labs, spun off from Meta’s blockchain team and created the Aptos and Sui blockchains, respectively. Both received backing from top-tier crypto VCs. For instance, Aptos investors include PayPal Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Multicoin Capital, Alameda Research, FTX, and Coinbase Ventures.

Currently, Aptos is slightly ahead of Sui in terms of ecosystem development. Thus, let me prioritize it today and explain how to benefit before the project even launches.

So far, Aptos has had three incentivized testnets. They had overwhelming numbers of participants that had to spend a lot of money on nodes without guarantees of being accepted. This kind of competition leaves chances only for the most hardcore community members.

I want to offer you an easier way that can still potentially give you access to the network’s upcoming token. Currently, the team is running a devnet, which already has some applications. You don’t need money to use them, and there’s a chance you will get an airdrop or two once the network launches.

You’ll need an Aptos-supported wallet to interact with the blockchain’s devnet. I suggest Martian. Creating a new account in Martian is similar to browser wallets like MetaMask. After setting up an account on the devnet, you can get some devnet tokens by clicking on the ‘Airdrop’ button.

After downloading the wallet, you can start exploring the ecosystem projects here. I picked some essential ones on Aptos and other networks for you to try out: 

  • Aptos Name Service: The first thing you can do on Aptos is buy a domain name. Since this is the testnet, the names you register now wouldn’t hold until the mainnet launch, but you will receive discounts or an early minting option at launch. Do you want to squat amazon.aptos?
  • Vial: Vial is a lending protocol. Connect your Martian wallet and test the basic deposit and borrow features.
  • Pontem Network: The project is backed by Multicoin and Delphi Digital. The team aims to build a DeFi hub on Aptos, starting with a Uniswap-like exchange called Liquid Swap. To test the platform, you need to download the Pontem Wallet.
  • Topaz: Topaz is an NFT marketplace. While you cannot beta test the platform, you can potentially gain early access to sales or even token airdrop by earning Discord roles on completing trooper challenges.
  • 1KX Exchange: The team is building an overcollateralized stablecoin. You can test it on zkSync now and keep an eye out for their Aptos devnet by following the project’s Discord and Twitter accounts, potentially making yourself eligible for a larger airdrop for testing early on both test networks. 

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