How Does Amnis Finance Work?
A liquid staking platform on Aptos that lets you earn staking rewards while keeping your APT liquid for DeFi. It holds $24M in deposits and dominates 82% of the Aptos LST market. Its B grade reflects clean operation and standard mechanisms, offset by the systemic risk its dominance creates for the entire Aptos DeFi ecosystem.
TVL
$24M
Sector
Liquid Staking
Risk Grade
B-
Value Grade
B-
Core Mechanisms
Liquid-Staking/LST
amAPT instant-liquidity liquid staking token on Aptos
Standard LST pattern (Lido stETH since 2020). amAPT provides instant liquidity for staked APT.
Liquid-Staking/Yield-Bearing
stAPT yield-bearing staking token on Aptos
Standard yield-bearing receipt token pattern. stAPT accrues staking rewards.
Staking/Delegation
Validator delegation across Aptos validator set
Standard delegation pattern.
Governance/Token
AMI token governance
Standard governance token.
DeFi/Composability
amAPT and stAPT integration across Aptos DeFi protocols
Standard DeFi composability for LSTs.
How the Pieces Interact
With 82% of Aptos LST market, an amAPT depeg would trigger cascading liquidations across lending protocols (Aries, Echelon) using amAPT as collateral.
Concentrated delegation to a small validator subset creates correlated slashing risk. Multiple validator failures would reduce staking rewards and could trigger amAPT discount.
Two separate tokens (amAPT, stAPT) create confusion about which to use as collateral and may fragment liquidity across DeFi integrations.
stAPT exchange rate depends on validator performance. Extended validator downtime reduces yields and could cause stAPT to trade below expected value.
Governance could adjust validator selection criteria or fee parameters in ways that affect staking yields for existing depositors.
What Could Go Wrong
- 82% dominance of Aptos LST market creates systemic risk: an amAPT depeg would cascade through the entire Aptos DeFi ecosystem.
- Validator delegation concentration on Aptos's relatively small validator set creates correlated slashing and downtime risk.
- Dual-token model (amAPT for instant liquidity + stAPT for yield-bearing) introduces complexity in DeFi composability.
amAPT Systemic Depeg Cascade
ModerateTrigger: Correlated validator failures or slashing events cause amAPT to trade at 5%+ discount to APT while $50M+ in amAPT is used as collateral across Aptos lending protocols
- 1.Multiple Amnis-delegated validators experience simultaneous downtime or slashing — amAPT staking rewards drop; confidence in the LST declines
- 2.amAPT begins trading at discount on DEXs as holders seek to exit — Lending protocol collateral values drop, triggering liquidation thresholds on Aries Markets and Echelon
- 3.Cascading liquidations dump more amAPT onto thin markets — Depeg deepens in reflexive spiral; remaining DeFi positions become undercollateralized
- 4.Mass unstaking requests overwhelm Aptos unstaking queue — amAPT becomes temporarily illiquid; holders face extended lockup periods
Risk Profile at a Glance
Overall: B- (33/100)
Lower score = safer