Aptos vs Ethereum: a comparison between two next-generation blockchains
In the rapidly evolving blockchain landscape, two platforms are gaining attention for their innovative approaches: Aptos and Ethereum.
Recently, many companies have been seeking alternatives to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to meet specific needs, such as reduced costs, greater scalability, and faster transaction speeds. One of the main questions they are asking is: in which scenarios would it be more advantageous to choose a solution based on Ethereum over Aptos, and vice versa?
Let’s now analyze together the key criteria to consider when choosing between the two platforms, highlighting the strengths of each.
The maturity of the Ethereum ecosystem
Ethereum boasts a well-established ecosystem, supported by years of development and innovation. Projects like Polygon and essential protocols such as TheGraph or ChainLink, enhance Ethereum’s infrastructure.
This extensive network of complementary solutions and the presence of standards like ERC-20 for tokens and ERC-721 for NFTs make Ethereum one of the most flexible and versatile platforms available.
This maturity not only provides a robust environment for developers and businesses, but also offers a wide range of resources and opportunities for those choosing to operate on the network. For example, developing with Solidity on Ethereum allows for easy compatibility with other EVM blockchains like Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, and Cronos, opening up new interoperability opportunities.
Relying on Ethereum means entering a decentralized system supported by thousands of nodes. As of September 2024, Ethereum had approximately 4,500 active nodes, offering greater decentralization and security compared to Aptos’ 150 nodes.
The distributed participation of validators and slashing mechanisms to punish incorrect behavior provide additional security and resilience guarantees, while the distribution of validation power is much more balanced on Ethereum, ensuring a network less vulnerable to malicious behavior. This makes Ethereum the ideal choice for projects requiring long-term stability and resilience.
The technological innovation of Aptos
Aptos, although younger, brings significant innovations. A key aspect is its programming language, Move, specifically designed to ensure security and performance in decentralized applications.
Move stands out for its structure that minimizes the risks related to resource duplication and loss, making it an ideal choice for applications requiring high security and precision, such as financial contracts or limited resource management. This language, in fact, was created to meet the need for developing smart contracts in a more secure way, avoiding bugs related to resource manipulation.
The advanced concepts of Move, such as explicit resource ownership management, offer a security advantage compared to Solidity, Ethereum’s programming language. Every resource is treated as a single entity that cannot be copied or accidentally destroyed, making it extremely suitable for programming with digital assets, where resource loss could be irreversible.
Move’s approach to resource management is particularly useful in contexts where accidental duplication or resource loss could have severe consequences, such as in financial applications or digital identity management.
Moreover, the ability to conduct native unit tests directly with Move code and its predisposition for formal verification make development on Aptos particularly secure and efficient. Thanks to its modular architecture, it also allows programmers to verify the correctness of the code during the compilation phase, reducing the risks of vulnerabilities in the executable code.
These characteristics make Aptos an ideal platform for projects requiring high levels of security and speed, especially in sectors like gaming, real-time payments, or high-frequency financial applications.
Aptos is therefore optimized to handle large volumes of transactions in very short times, making it perfect for applications requiring immediate response without compromising security.
Consensus algorithm: a balance between speed and security
Both platforms utilize advanced protocols to ensure the security and efficiency of the network. Ethereum, with its Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, selects validators based on the amount of stake and introduces penalty mechanisms (slashing) to discourage malicious behavior.
However, the finalization process on Ethereum can be time-consuming, as transactions must wait for multiple confirmations before being considered definitive. This can introduce a certain latency, especially in scenarios where it is crucial for transactions to be finalized instantaneously, such as in high-frequency trading or real-time payments.
On the other hand, Aptos implements AptosBFT, an evolution of Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) protocols, which ensures immediate finality of transactions. This means that once confirmed, transactions are definitive without further confirmations, reducing latency and making the network significantly faster.
Aptos can handle up to 160,000 transactions per second (TPS) under optimal conditions, a speed that makes it highly competitive compared to slower blockchains like Ethereum.
Moreover, AptosBFT’s fault tolerance ensures that the network remains secure and operational as long as less than one-third of the nodes are malicious or malfunctioning, providing significant resilience. This ability to maintain stability even in less than ideal conditions makes Aptos particularly suitable for critical applications, where security and speed are essential.
Innovation in account management: Aptos’ Keyless system
One of the most interesting innovations introduced by Aptos is its Keyless system, which radically transforms user account management. Traditionally, managing a blockchain account requires the user to securely hold a private key, a task that can be challenging for those unfamiliar with blockchain technologies.
In Aptos, however, the Keyless system eliminates this necessity through an approach called “account abstraction”, which allows for managing user credentials without the direct use of a private key. In this way, the maintenance of keys is entrusted to an OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider, significantly simplifying the user experience and reducing the risk of errors in credential management.
Account abstraction allows developers to create customized accounts with specific logic, with an approach that reduces the risk of theft or loss of the private key.
Instead of relying exclusively on a single private key, Aptos enables more dynamic management, where users can configure multiple access policies.
Thanks to account abstraction, Aptos offers flexible account management, allowing the use of different authentication techniques, simplifying the user experience without compromising security, making it particularly appealing for mass adoption.
How exactly does this account management mechanism work?
The Keyless system relies on smart contracts that manage access permissions for the account.
When a user logs into a dApp through an OIDC provider, the dApp receives a signed JSON Web Token (JWT) from the provider, containing the user’s identity, the dApp’s identity, and an ephemeral public key (EPK).
This public key is associated with a secret key known only to the user, and the JWT signature acts as a digital certificate, temporarily linking the user’s blockchain address to the ephemeral key, allowing the EPK to sign transactions for that account.
In case of loss of the ephemeral secret key, the user can obtain a new signed JWT simply by logging in again through the OIDC provider, such as Google or Apple.
Thus, this system significantly improves security while also presenting challenges in terms of privacy, as the JWT must not be revealed on-chain to avoid disclosing the user’s identity.
Conclusions: our choice between Ethereum and Aptos
Ultimately, the choice between Ethereum and Aptos strongly depends on the specific requirements of the project. Ethereum presents itself as a consolidated blockchain, supported by a vast ecosystem of developers and tools that ensure security and compatibility with a wide range of EVM solutions.
However, Aptos represents an increasingly interesting proposition, especially for those seeking speed, scalability, and a more efficient management of transaction costs.
Our experience at KChain Solutions has led us to successfully explore both platforms. That said, we observe how Aptos is rapidly gaining ground, thanks to innovations like the Move language and the keyless mechanism, which represent a significant leap forward in terms of security and ease of use.
Even though Ethereum probably represents the most suitable choice for projects capable of handling larger transactions, where transaction costs can be considered negligible compared to the value transferred, if we had to express a preference our inclination leans towards Aptos, particularly for those innovative projects requiring high performance and an agile infrastructure.
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