Apertum Nominated for Best Layer-1 Blockchain of the Year at Coingape Web3 Innovation Awards

Community-driven Layer-1 blockchain Apertum has been nominated for the Best Layer-1 Blockchain of the Year at the CoinGape Web3 Innovation Awards 2026. With this nomination, Apertum, a blockchain built on Avalanche’s subnet technology, has increased its list of accolades, having gained real on-chain traction without any VC or institutional backing.

About Apertum

Launched on January 30, 2025, Apertum is a sovereign Layer-1 blockchain that operates as a custom subnet of the Avalanche network.

The chain is compatible with EVM, and is said to let developers deploy smart contracts and scale decentralized applications without the need for additional coding.

Its native token, APTM, has already made its way to multiple exchanges. Apertum’s speed has been top-tier, offering upwards of 4,500 transactions per second and a time-to-finality ranging from 0.15 to 1.5 seconds.

Being a community-centric ecosystem, Apertum lets the community govern it, which plays a major part in its growth since the chain has not received any institutional backing.

One Year, Multiple Milestones

By the time the blockchain was more than a year old, it had already processed over 8.6 million transactions, hosting over 380,000 unique addresses and deploying over 530 smart contracts.

With the CertiK audit returning zero vulnerabilities across all categories, Apertum has risen to the top 0.1% of blockchain projects in terms of audit quality.

Prior to receiving CoinGape’s nomination, Apertum had already been recognized by FinanceFeeds and CryptoNews for the same feat. For the rest of 2026, Apertum is moving forward with cross-chain interoperability with major chains. Bridging to Solana is already available, and AI-based optimization is coming next.

How Apertum Stands Out in the Market

In most Layer-1 chains, people expect there to be VC backing. However, with such backing, much of the numbers shown are theoretical. With Apertum, however, all the numbers are based on real activity.

Beyond the real activity, the project has been able to achieve milestone after milestone within a year of its launch.

A recognition by the CoinGape Web3 Innovation Awards 2026 further cements the blockchain’s value as a product whose promises and deliverables are more than credentials on paper.

For more information about Apertum, use the links below: 

• X: https://x.com/Apertum_io
• Website: https://www.apertum.io