Aptos Switches On Block-STM v2 as Default Parallel Execution Engine

Aptos has made Block-STM v2 the default parallel execution engine on its Layer-1 blockchain, processing transactions simultaneously with no action needed from users or decentralized applications. Crypto Briefing reported the switch, which targets high-frequency DeFi workloads and performance across up to 256 cores.

How Block-STM v2 Handles Conflicting Transactions

The engine uses optimistic concurrency control, executing transactions speculatively across multiple processor threads at the same time. It then checks each transaction's read and write sets, the data it looked at and the data it changed, validating them against an ordering consensus has already fixed in advance. When two transactions conflict, only those specific transactions are re-executed, and the final result is deterministic and serial-equivalent.

Aptos said the v2 engine handles parallel execution dynamically, without requiring upfront access lists or dependency declarations. The original Block-STM hit roughly 170k transactions per second in 2022 benchmarks, which showed it running 17x faster than sequential execution when using 32 threads. Version 2 focuses on multi-core scaling, targeting performance across up to 256 cores.

Aptos announced Block-STM v2 in October 2025 as part of its roadmap, with the stated goal of better performance for high-frequency DeFi workloads, where trading bots and liquidations hit the same contracts at the same moment. Updates in 2026 confirmed that v2 is now enabled by default, alongside additional performance optimizations and consistency fixes, with the rollout spanning execution, consensus, storage and state sync processes. The research behind the upgrade also emphasizes keeping transaction costs low for users while throughput rises.

Aptos Funding and Partner Records

Aptos Labs had raised $350 million by mid-2022, according to akta.pro company records, including a $200 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz in March 2022 and a $150 million Series A led by FTX Ventures and Jump Trading Group in July 2022. The same records list three funding rounds on file and a valuation estimate of $1 billion to $5 billion. Aptos Labs operates the Aptos Network, a Layer 1 blockchain built on the Move programming language, and its logo-listed partners include Google Cloud and Microsoft.

Earlier Aptos Product Launches

Aptos unveiled MonoMove on October 6, 2026, a redesigned Move VM execution engine claiming up to 55x faster smart contract processing, with benchmarks on DecibelTrade transactions showing gains of 55x for collateral withdrawals and 3-8x throughput, Crypto Briefing reported. On October 12, 2026, Aptos launched an encrypted mempool that seals orders before they join the public queue to prevent front-running, adding about 20 milliseconds of delay, with Petra wallet and Decibel supporting it, according to CoinMarketCap. Aptos also introduced AI tooling for Move development on October 12, 2026, including an MCP server, LLMs.txt feeds and agent skills, Crypto Briefing reported.