- Arthur Hayes predicts Aptos will surpass Solana in 2-3 years, becoming the second-largest L1 protocol.
- Aptos’s unique Move programming language and consistent uptime position it as a strong Ethereum competitor.
Arthur Hayes, a co-founder of BitMEX, has boldly predicted that Layer 1 (L1) blockchain Aptos (APT) will flip Solana (SOL) within the next two to three years.
Speaking with Raoul Pal recently, Hayes hinted that this impending switching could force Aptos to overtake Ethereum as the second most popular L1 protocol.
BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes predicted in a video interview (38:25) that in the L1 competition, Aptos will flip Solana and become the number two L1. This will take one to three years, and he will reveal more details in September this year. https://t.co/t4bj4xCAB3
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 17, 2024
Newer, more creative competitors are always challenging Ethereum’s supremacy in the blockchain field. In March 2020, Solana came on the market with the pledge to fix Ethereum’s shortcomings, which included problems with cost, performance, and scalability.
When it was launched, the market desperately needed a significant substitute since the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) boom was causing problems with congestion in the Ethereum environment.
Solana’s Journey to Popularity
Though it took some time to become popular, Solana is today one of the most respected protocols. Beginning in December 2022 with the introduction of its meme coin BONK, Solana experienced an explosion.
This signaled the first instance of the memecoin revolution spreading outside of Ethereum, and it attracted a lot of attention very fast.
The popularity of BONK drew additional meme coins to the Solana platform, which in turn sparked the introduction of inventive DeFi platforms due to the lower minting costs.
But Solana quickly encountered congestion problems of its own, resembling those that beset Ethereum.
Arthur Hayes projects that Aptos will take over the market in the next two to three years. Although he did not go into detail about his conviction, he did say that further information would be available in September.
Aptos: A Strong Candidate
Given the protocol has never had any outages since its inception, Aptos’s selection as a possible Solana replacement is not unexpected. The ecosystem of digital currencies is constantly seeking for the next best thing, and Aptos seems like a strong contender.
Aptos was built using Move, a new smart contract programming language. Previously working on the Diem blockchain at Meta Platforms Inc., engineers from the company independently created Move, a quick Rust-based programming language.
Though Diem was never released, Aptos, which aims to make it suitable for commercial use, demonstrates the team’s experience.
Previously, ETHNews reported that Arthur Hayes and Raoul Pal predicted the creation of a Dogecoin ETF before the market cycle concluded.
Future Prospects and Market Risks
Apart from projecting Aptos’ future, Arthur Hayes also covered the threats to the cryptocurrency sector, speculating that a significant custodian may be hacked, which may result in a $50 billion to $100 billion cryptocurrency loss.
Arthur Hayes said that the biggest risk in the next 2 to 3 years is that a major crypto custodian is hacked and loses $50 billion to $100 billion in cryptocurrencies, which would be the end of the cycle.
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 17, 2024
Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap data show that the price of APT is at $7.63 at the moment of writing, down 2.76% from the previous day. At a 7.90% drop over the last seven days, this likewise indicates a bearish stance.