Aptos Labs Issues Grant to Blockchain Lab at Cornell University

Aptos, the newly launched blockchain built by the team that worked on Facebook's axed diem cryptocurrency, has issued a $50,000 grant to Lorenzo Alvisi, a Cornell University computer science professor who specializes in blockchain and Web3 technology, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.

The grant will be used by the university, the second-best in the U.S. for blockchain in a CoinDesk ranking, to fund research in developing an approach to scale the performance of blockchains by building a secure, decentralized log on top of a Byzantine-tolerant database. Such a database mitigates the risk of a thinly distributed network of nodes, which can result in a network attack such as a 51% attack.

“We are delighted to support the work of Professor Alvisi’s students as they not only research novel blockchain systems but also develop real-world, scalable use cases and applications to benefit the future of the industry," said Aptos Labs Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Avery Ching.

The company also said Stanford University Professor of Computer Science Dr. Dan Boneh has joined as an adviser. Stanford ranked third in the U.S. in the CoinDesk study; the top spot was taken by University of California-Berkeley.

Aptos' grant follows in the footsteps of Cardano, which funded a $4.5 million research hub at Edinburgh University in November.

The aptos token (APT), which was airdropped to early users in October, was one of the top performing crypto assets in January, surging from a low of $3.52 to a high of $20.32. It currently trades at $16.36, according to CoinDesk data. Whilst sentiment remains positive on the whole, concerns have been raised over tokenomics and the lack of activity on the network in comparison to layer 1 competitors such as Ethereum.

Currently, Aptos has $61.45 million in total value locked (TVL) on its network comparec to its market cap of $2.6 billion.

Aptos CEO Mo Shaikh defended the project's token distribution in November, claiming that it is "much fairer" than its competitors.

UPDATE (Feb. 1, 16:03 UTC): Adds CoinDesk university rankings in second, fourth paragraphs.