Aptos Labs Forms Key Partnership with Microsoft, SK Telecom, and Boston Consulting Group to Launch DeFi Platform, Aptos Ascend

Aptos Labs has teamed up with Microsoft, Brevan Howard, SK Telecom, and Boston Consulting Group to create Aptos Ascend.
The focus is on enhancing decentralised finance and asset management.
Aptos Ascend aims to provide financial institutions with a secure, compliant, and scalable DeFi gateway.
Despite the significant partnerships, Aptos’s market response was negative, with a 3% decrease in value in the past 24 hours.

According to reporting by The Block, Aptos Labs has formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft, Brevan Howard, SK Telecom, and Boston Consulting Group to develop Aptos Ascend, an institutional platform aimed at expanding decentralised finance and increasing the liquidity of tokenised assets through the Aptos network.

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Initially, Aptos (APT), a blockchain in the top 25 by market cap, did not react positively to the news, sliding down 3% in the past 24 hours.

Aptos (APT), 1-day graph, source: CoinMarketCap

Major Tech, Finance Companies to Build on Aptos

In the partnership with Microsoft, SK Telecom and others, Aptos Labs will develop its digital asset management platform, Aptos Ascend.

Utilising Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service, Aptos Ascend will integrate advanced cloud and AI technologies.

The platform will leverage Brevan Howard’s investment expertise and SK Telecom’s web3 solutions, including wallet-as-a-service, to enhance digital currency and asset management services.

Boston Consulting Group will serve as a consulting partner, helping to expand decentralised finance and boost global liquidity for tokenised assets through the Aptos network.

Mo Shaikh, Aptos Labs co-founder and CEO, commented:

Global institutions require superior levels of compliance, security, trust, and innovation to service customers, operate across borders, and adhere to regulations at every level. Aptos Ascend will provide the world’s financial institutions, banks and tech-forward money markets with a performant, compliant, secure and scalable gateway to decentralized finance on Aptos that will evolve for years to come.

Mo Shaikh, Aptos Labs co-founder and CEO

Aptos Has Eyes on Expansion

Aptos, a fairly new Layer-1 blockchain developed by former Meta employees, is designed to support a variety of DeFi applications. Key areas of the platform are NFTs, gaming, artificial intelligence, and social media, with a focus on scalability that broadens its potential applications.

The development around Aptos Ascend comes after the blockchain made headlines last November with a collaboration with Alibaba Cloud which aims to further web3 in the Asia-Pacific region.

Related: Aptos and Alibaba Cloud Partner to Elevate Web3 in APAC

Additionally, Aptos is one of the chains with the most active developer community and is already a top ten blockchain measured by active daily users, despite its young age, as per CryptoDep: