As some of the readers of this blog know, I worked for two years at Novi (Facebook) on the Diem (formerly known as Libra) cryptocurrency. The project was recently dismantled, most likely due to regulator unwillingness to help a non-government backed cryptocurrency reach millions of people at scale.

Today, a group of 17 ex Novi/Diem engineers and researchers announced Aptos, presumably a fork of Diem. From what I understand, this means that a state-of-the-art blockchain that has been pushing the envelop in terms of innovation, security, and performance, and that’s been in development for the last 4 years, now has a path to launch.

I’m guessing that we’re going to see the typical proof-of-stake approach being implemented (unlike Diem’s proof of authority) as well as a revamped set of smart contracts (written in Move) to govern the new blockchain. Besides that, the blockchain was already in a solid shape a year ago so I don’t foresee any major changes.

Congratulation to the new team :) this is exciting.