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Aptos Ecosystem Grows in Week 3 of February 2025: Key Developments and Partnerships

The Aptos ecosystem keeps making strides in the blockchain space and showing incredible growth and innovative partnerships during the week of February 20, 2025. This week has been punctuated by coverworthy announcements, huge new partnerships, and this ecosystem’s destiny-fulfilling movement toward decentralized finance (DeFi)—not to mention the Aptos blockchain’s completely on-chain, state-of-the-art lending platform. You can undoubtedly see a big difference in Aptos’s appearance, direction, and potential in this ecosystem. Here’s a brief highlight recap of this week: Strategic Partnerships and Expanding Ecosystem A significant development this week is the launch of PACT Protocol on Aptos. PACT Protocol is making a notable impact on the on-chain lending space, providing users with decentralized and efficient lending options. This launch is viewed as a cornerstone event for the network, pushing DeFi solutions into the spotlight and making Aptos more relevant as a space for decentralized financial services. PACT Protocol is expected to be by far the most significant development in the Aptos lending space, using the advantages of transparency, security, and speed that come with the blockchain to disrupt traditional lending services. Moreover, Aptos Foundation appointed as new community development chief PoOn Yeung—who was previously at the Web3 organization ConsenSys—onboarding a talented individual with lots of experience in developing and engaging with communities. This is a key role because Yeung’s position makes him an integral part of onboarding new projects that help expansion of the Aptos ecosystem. At the same time, “community development” is a big part of the foundation’s efforts to generate interest in what’s being built on Aptos, as well as a big part of the foundation’s overall focus on what they say is a growing demand for blockchain adoption. Aptos also embraced Huddle01 into its ecosystem, a Web3 stage that provides decentralized, secure, and efficient meeting solutions. As the world steadily pivots toward the virtual sphere for collaboration, Huddle01 stands primed to contribute to the growth and provisioning of decentralized communication tools. This alliance will fortify the ecosystem and Aptos’ collaborative layer within it because Huddle01 has a “new layer” of just that sort of efficient meeting infrastructure, both secure and scalable, for decentralized communities. Growing Interest in Staking and DeFi on Aptos Staking will remain a major theme for Aptos in 2025 and is now an activity seeing a surge on the platform. Apparently, the staking volume on Aptos has skyrocketed recently to the tune of +7.7 million APT (+28%), which takes us from a total of 27 million APT staked in early January to a presently 34.7 million APT staked. Why? Well, obviously, people are partaking in network governance and security for the chance to earn some sweet, sweet rewards, but what’s really pushing this narrative forward? Platforms like Amnis Finance, for one, are enabling the governance token holders to stake their APT and earn some rather attractive yields. The growing enthusiasm for staking coincides with Aptos’s wider objective of emerging as a top-tier platform for decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. With the staking of an increasing number of tokens, the network’s total security and decentralization also improve, rendering it an even more appealing choice for developers and users. AI and DeFi: The Future of Aptos Aside from its growth in decentralized finance, the Aptos ecosystem is also experiencing movement among AI agents. Two standout projects in this nascent AI-powered sector are JouleFinance and its counterpart, Merkle_Trade, and together they represent what could be a seismic shift in the operation of decentralized finance. JouleFinance is using AI to effect the kind of fundamental change in fiDe that we formerly might have expected from quantum computing. Merkle_Trade is using the same kind of AI (in a different way) to produce a similarly revolutionary effect. The two projects have something in common: they are both fully integrating AI with the smart contract capabilities of the Aptos blockchain. In a similar way, Merkle_Trade is using AI to improve the automation of trading using its plugin, Merkle Eliza. Employing algorithmic AI, Merkle_Trade aspires to completely change how users deal with trading strategies, making it all a lot smarter and more efficient in the realm of DeFi trading. These two projects are merely the entrance of the AI train into the Aptos ecosystem, and we can expect a lot more in the coming months. Weekly $APT @Aptos Recap – Tuần 3, tháng 02/2025 Giao thức PACT @pactconsortium ra mắt trên Aptos: Bước ngoặt cho hoạt động lending on-chain Chúc mừng PoOn Yeung ( @poymeetsworld ) gia nhập Aptos Foundation với vai trò trưởng bộ phận phát triển cộng đồng.… https://t.co/npBnYSptdT pic.twitter.com/jXl2z4vWlH — Blog Tiền Ảo (@blogtienao_hq) February 24, 2025 In addition, Aptos co-hosted BUIDL Day at EthereumDenver, an event that drew developers from both ecosystems together. The day served to highlight several projects being built on the Aptos blockchain—such as Emojicoinfun, Joule Finance, Kana Labs, KYD Labs, Mirage Protocol, Panana Predictions, and Fliq Predictions—that illustrate the diverse array of use cases springing up around the Aptos chain from NFTs to predictions markets and DeFi apps. AI + DeFi Panel Discussion An exciting occurrence came from an engaging panel discussion and the insightful questions that resulted from it, hosted by Haley (@llcool_hay) and a guest expert panel. They steered the audience and themselves through a deep dive into the growing influence of AI and DeFi (DeFAI) on the Aptos ecosystem. The discussion skimmed over some surface-level understanding of those concepts before delving quite a bit deeper into what they mean for our world and the Aptos ecosystem. When we think of those two (AI and DeFi) together, we actually have the potential to create something much more interesting than either of those two topics individually can create. Conclusion The week of February 2025 has been an exhilarating one for the Aptos ecosystem. From launching groundbreaking protocols such as PACT Protocol to bringing on board strategic allies like Huddle01, the network Carlsbad continues to invigorate its capabilities and solidify its stature in the blockchain and DeFi realms. The mounting volume of staking and the burgeoning influence of AI in DeFi further highlight Aptos’s prospects for long-term greatness. Aptos stands ready to keep on keeping on, largely due to PoOn Yeung and his partnerships. Yeung leads community development for Aptos, and his work with the community and a panoply of partners has put the nascent network on solid ground as it heads into its next growth stage. The Aptos team sees “growing up” across three dimensions: in technical development, in ecosystem growth, and in added community development. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any service. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news ! Image Source: armmypicca/ 123RF // Image Effects by Colorcinch AMB Crypto

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Donald Trump’s crypto portfolio hits 12-month lows

President Donald Trump has come a long way in his attitude toward cryptocurrency since he rejected Bitcoin ( BTC ) in his first term. Indeed, the billionaire politician has not only become rhetorically friendly but has actively been involved with digital assets, launching several non-fungible token ( NFT ) collections and even a set of family-themed inauguration meme coins . Simultaneously, however, Trump — or someone in his team — appears relatively keen to swapping cryptocurrency for regular currency as the President’s balance has been, per the data Finbold retrieved from Arkham Intelligence on February 25, shrinking rapidly. Donald Trump’s digital assets portfolio became particularly active during the election campaign due to numerous individuals or projects sending cryptocurrency to promote themselves or to help back the Republican. The activity ensured the associated address briefly ballooned to approximately $26 million in June 2024 and then, after a protracted period of remaining under $10 million, to a recent January 18 high near $23 million. Trump’s crypto portfolio falls 92% in just over a month In stark contrast to such figures, Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency balance, at press time on February 25, is a significantly lower $1.7 million. Donald Trump’s crypto portfolio on February 25. Source: Arkham Some of the $21.3 million decline can be attributed to the market fluctuations, particularly as, at press time, Bitcoin is trading below $89,000 for the first time since November, and Ethereum ( ETH ) below $2,400 for the first time since October. Still, Trump or his team has actively been selling, and the record clearly shows that the coin and token balance has decreased, not just their value in USD. A particularly interesting example of likely selling came in late January and early February when approximately 1,000 ETH were moved to hot wallets, only for Eric Trump to make an X post endorsing Ethereum . At press time, it is unclear if and when the cryptocurrency has been sold. The selling activity pertaining to Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency is interesting, both due to the speed of its execution and the rhetoric the President has adopted in recent months. Is Trump keeping his promises to the crypto community? The Republican has been a vocal supporter of the industry and the community, pledging to end what many believed to be the Biden administration’s war on crypto, to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and to ensure the U.S. is the global digital assets capital. Although Trump’s progress with regard to the industry and cryptocurrency has been slower than many had hoped, it has not been entirely lacking. As the President pledged, the U.S. government hasn’t sold any of its Bitcoin despite having a legal right to do so , per the data Finbold retrieved from Arkham on February 25. U.S. Government’s crypto portfolio on February 25. Source: Arkham Similarly, despite not forming a Bitcoin or other digital asset strategic reserve, Donald Trump issued an order for the relevant agencies to examine the feasibility and logistics of such a move quickly following his inauguration. The most recent development, however, might also be the most impactful yet as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has signaled it is dropping its lawsuit against the biggest publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange , Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN ). Featured image via Shutterstock The post Donald Trump’s crypto portfolio hits 12-month lows appeared first on Finbold . AMB Crypto