a suitable (APT), a cryptocurrency created by former Facebook employees, is up more than 15% in the past 24 hours after the company announced an alleged partnership with Microsoft.
According to the announcement, the partnership is long-term and will make it easier than ever for people to explore web3 and for creators to build the future of the internet.
“The foundations for this partnership have been laid over the past five years, during which Aptos has relentlessly pursued the vision of a user-centric, decentralized internet.” — Aptos told its official blog.
Today we make Aptos history.@AptosLabs works together with @Microsoft to unlock Web3 on the @Aptos_Network.
like a @msPartner, our joint suite of AI-enabled tools provides developers and users around the world with effortless access to Web3. (1/6) pic.twitter.com/zWsrVWhSql
— Aptos Labs (@AptosLabs) August 9, 2023
Fake partnership?
Aptos also stated that it has teamed up with Microsoft to release Aptos Assistant, a type of bot integrated into ChatGPT that acts as a tool to provide natural language support to users and developers in the Aptos ecosystem.
In addition Aptos will run validation nodes on the Microsoft cloud serviceAzure, as part of the collaboration, leverages Microsoft’s infrastructure to increase the security of the Aptos blockchain.
Despite the optimistic announcement, more observant users criticized the term “partnership” in the publication, claiming that Aptos you pay only to use Microsoft services.
Cryptocurrency analyst @DefiSquared, known as one of the top traders at Bybit, took to Twitter to criticize the company.
“Did you really just send Aptos up 15% with the ‘news’ that it is paying to use Microsoft Azure services? It seems, still has no users and an $8 billion valuation with an endless supply of tokens and 100% annual issuance. — he said.
The user further claimed that the news was published two days before more than 4.5 million APT tokens (2% of the circulating supply) were unlocked for project leaders, suggesting possible ulterior motives on the part of the company.
He also shared a screenshot of Microsoft’s website explaining how easy it is for any company to join the Microsoft AI Cloud partner program, sarcastically noting:
“Aptos really clicked ‘Sign up for free and become a partner today’ and added a billion dollars to their marketplace. Who knew it was so easy?
Aptos really clicked “Sign up for free and become a partner today” and added a billion dollars to their market cap. Who knew it was so easy? pic.twitter.com/Lt42y4vpB2
— DeFi^2 (@DefiSquared) August 10, 2023
Aptos skyrockets 15%
Following the announcement of the partnership with Microsoft, the APT token, sourced from Aptos, surged 15% in less than 24 hours, reaching US$7.99, according to CoinMarketCap.
Meanwhile, analysts suggest investors are taking a pessimistic view of the currency as open interest (OI) volumes for APT futures have risen to a three-month high above $160 million, according to the Decrypt.
Ultimately, investors still don’t know if the partnership is genuine or a timely move to raise token prices in anticipation of significant unlocking for venture capitalists (VCs) who have bet on the project.
Aptos Labs, it is worth remembering, received an investment of US$200 million from companies such as a16z, Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, 3 Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, among others.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
