Aptos NYC 2025
Chris Kim
Developer Relations Engineer · Aptos Labs
We're not here to just build applications for crypto degens — Aptos is trying to give developers everything they need to build apps that resonate with people who've never touched a wallet.
How He Got Into Aptos
Chris Kim is a UC Berkeley graduate in Data Science and Economics who came up through blockchain development — building ERC-721 token contracts and decentralized commerce smart contracts in Solidity before landing at Aptos Labs. Aptos Labs welcomed him publicly as its newest Developer Relations Engineer in July 2025.
By his own account he's still fairly new to the ecosystem he now represents: at Aptos NYC he described himself as "someone who's completely new to Aptos," having just gone through Aptos's own Move hackathon himself before joining the team full-time — which gives him a genuine builder's-eye view of what it actually feels like to onboard onto the chain he now supports.
What He's Building Now
"We're not here to just build applications for crypto degens," Chris said. "Aptos is not just focusing on providing the best protocol, but we're trying to give you all of the tools and features that let developers build applications with amazing UX... building apps that resonate with the rest of the world — who doesn't know crypto, who doesn't know what a wallet is."
That means a specific set of building blocks: cross-chain accounts, account-abstracted accounts, and social logins with Google and Apple that abstract the blockchain out of the experience entirely — so a user feels like they're using a normal app, while the backend is quietly sending transactions and storing state on-chain.
- Developer Relations Engineer, Aptos Labs — joined July 2025
- Account abstraction + social logins (Google, Apple) via Aptos Connect, so end users never see a wallet
- Cross-chain account tooling aimed at UX parity with normal (non-crypto) apps
- Design philosophy: build for people who've never touched crypto, not just "crypto degens"
Chris Kim: Not Just Building for Crypto Degens
Chris Kim on Aptos's account abstraction, social logins, and cross-chain tooling — and why the goal is apps that resonate with people who've never touched a wallet.
Future
Where Onboarding Is Going
"Getting involved with the community is the best way, man... you'll be surprised how you start finding people."
Chris's own team leans on AI in its workflow — he credited the Aptos MCP server with helping his team "understand and onboard very quickly" into writing Move smart contracts, right after going through Aptos's own hackathon himself.
His advice to newcomers, developer or not, was the same he'd give himself: start at the Aptos dev portal's beginner guides (first Move module, first transaction), then get into the community directly. "Just introduce yourself... this is what I do and this is what I want to do, and you'll be surprised — there'll be people like, 'oh, I like your idea, tell me more,' and maybe they end up being like a 10x dev who can help you out with your project."
Chris Kim: The Aptos MCP Server and Getting Started
Chris Kim on using AI tooling (the Aptos MCP server) to onboard into Move development, and why joining the community is the fastest path in for builders of any kind.
Fast Facts
At a glance
Company
Aptos Labs
Role
Developer Relations Engineer
Joined Aptos Labs
July 2025
Education
UC Berkeley — Data Science & Economics
Event
Aptos NYC 2025
“We're not here to just build applications for crypto degens. We want to be building apps that resonate with the rest of the world — who doesn't know crypto, who doesn't know what a wallet is.”
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