Aptos Activates Encrypted Mempool as Annual APT Unlocks Fall 60%

Aptos began supporting optional encrypted transaction payloads Monday, with details revealed only after block ordering is complete. The rollout coincided with the end of its four-year unlock cycle for early investors and core contributors.

Users can submit payloads in encrypted form through the protocol’s native mempool system. Validators can sequence the transactions without access to their requested function or parameters; the payload is decrypted after consensus. Sender addresses and gas fees remain visible.

The feature added roughly 20 milliseconds of latency per block in 50-node benchmarks. The system is opt-in for each transaction, and Decibel, an Aptos-based perpetual futures exchange, is expected to use it to keep orders private until execution.

The schedule’s conclusion reduces annualized APT supply unlocks by 60%.

Aptos mainnet launched Oct. 12, 2022, with an initial supply of 1 billion APT. The original distribution allocated 190 million APT to core contributors and 134,782,640.233 APT to investors under the four-year lock-up schedule.