Aptos approves governance for a crypto mempool and launches its first L1 transaction intent privacy feature

According to an X post by Aptos on May 12, Aptos plans to launch a native encrypted mempool (Encrypted Mempool); after approval by the governance body, Aptos will become the first Layer 1 blockchain to offer users an option to submit transactions into the native encrypted mempool. Per the announcement, the feature achieves complete confidentiality of transaction intent, with trust assumptions consistent with the Aptos network itself.

Core Functions of the Encrypted Mempool

According to Aptos’ official announcement, the encrypted mempool’s main functions are as follows: users only need to click once to submit encrypted transactions, and transaction details remain confidential at all times before execution, protecting users from threats such as front-running, censorship, and order-flow manipulation; after the block is confirmed, all validators can fully view transaction information, all transaction data continues to be recorded on-chain as usual, maintaining full transparency.

According to the announcement, in most existing blockchains, pending transactions are visible to all validating nodes before execution. Validating nodes can profit by selling order flow or through front-running, creating what the industry calls a shadow market for maximum extractable value (MEV); Aptos’ encrypted mempool aims to solve this issue at the protocol layer.

Aptos Labs’ Batch Threshold Decryption Technical Solution

According to Aptos’ official announcement, the Aptos Labs research team developed a Batch Threshold Decryption scheme to address the performance challenges of deploying encrypted mempools for large-scale applications: in traditional threshold encryption, validators must broadcast partial decryption results for each individual transaction, with communication complexity of O(nB); the new scheme allows validators to collectively decrypt an entire batch of transactions in a single operation, reducing communication complexity to O(n) and computation complexity to O(n+B), with each batch’s online phase taking no more than 20 milliseconds.

According to the announcement, the system uses a distributed key generation (DKG) protocol within each epoch, where partial results from one round of decryption cannot be reused in another round, preventing replay attacks; the system is directly integrated into the Aptos consensus protocol, with minimal impact on end-to-end latency. Aptos says more technical details will be published in an upcoming academic paper.

Governance Approval Status and Ecosystem Applications

According to Aptos’ official announcement, the encrypted mempool feature is still pending approval from the governance body and will only be officially launched after approval. Decentralized exchange Decibel has stated that once the feature is approved, orders submitted via Decibel will be transmitted in a fully confidential state until they are recorded in a block.

Based on public data, in 2025, the multi-month DEX spot trading volume exceeded $200 billion per month, with the third quarter averaging about $476 billion per month.

FAQ

What is the announcement time and current launch status of Aptos’ native encrypted mempool?

According to Aptos’ official announcement posted on May 12, 2026 on the X platform, the native encrypted mempool is still pending approval by the governance body and has not been officially launched; after approval, Aptos will become the first Layer 1 blockchain to provide this feature.

How does Aptos ensure transaction confidentiality without affecting speed?

According to Aptos’ official announcement, the core technology is the batch threshold decryption scheme, which reduces communication complexity from O(nB) to O(n). Each batch’s online phase takes no more than 20 milliseconds, and it is directly integrated into Aptos’ consensus protocol, with minimal impact on end-to-end latency.

What kinds of attacks does the Aptos encrypted mempool protect against?

According to Aptos’ official announcement, at the protocol layer the feature protects users from front-running (Front-Running), order-flow leakage, and censorship; the system also prevents replay attacks. After block confirmation, all transaction information is recorded on-chain as usual, maintaining full transparency.