- Aptos announced a major partnership deal with Microsoft.
- Aptos developers will have access to Microsoft’s AI tools.
- The news came two days ahead of a major token unlock
Aptos price surged on Wednesday even as investors prepared for a major token unlock scheduled for the next two days. The token surged by more than 17% in the past 24 hours, becoming one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the industry.
Aptos partners with Microsoft
Aptos, a relatively new blockchain projects, is in the spotlight this week as the developers prepare another token unlock. The network will unlock tokens worth over $34 million, which are equivalent to about 2.34% of the total circulating supply.
Tokens worth over $10.4 million will go to the Aptos Foundation while the rest will go to the community. According to TokenUnlocks, only 17% of the total APT tokens have been unlocked to date. 829 million tokens are still locked and according to the vesting schedule the last ones will be unlocked in 2031.
Therefore, existing APT holders should prepare for more dilution in the next few years. Historically, token unlocks tend to be dilutive since they increase the circulating supply. They are equated to when companies issue more shares.
Aptos price soared after the developers announced a major partnership with Microsoft, the second-biggest company in the world. In a statement, Aptos said that the partnership will provide its developers with artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud tools.
The first part of this collaboration will be Aptos Assistant, a user-friendly tool powered by Microsoft AI. Further, the two companies will explore areas of integrating AI in areas like DeFi, payments, tokenization, and CBDCs. Also, Aptos will run validator nodes on Microsoft Azure.
The Aptos and Microsoft partnership will have mutual benefits for the two companies. Microsoft will benefit by having a leading blockchain player in its ecosystem while Aptos will benefit by having a reliable partner in Microsoft.
The partnership news seems to be designed to counter the upcoming token unlocks event. In the past, blockchain companies tend to release positive news before or shortly after a major unlock event.
Aptos price forecast
The daily chart shows that the APT price has made a spectacular comeback after the Microsoft deal. It remains above the ascending trendline shown in green. The token jumped above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages
Most importantly, Aptos price reached a high of $8.02, an important resistance since it was the highest level in June and July. The token has moved above the Ichimoku cloud indicator.
I suspect that these gains will be short-lived and that the token will move back to ~$6.75, the lowest level on June 29th. A move above the resistance level at $8.02 will signal that there are more buyers in the market.
