Under the expectation of airdrops, is CZ's "Milk"'s Perp DEX "Aster" worth participating in?

Author: momo, ChainCatcher

After Hyperliquid encountered a crisis of trust, the war for Perp DEX started again.

Some CEXs have also begun to support their own ecosystem in Mingpai. Recently, CZ has interacted with Aster on Twitter many times.

The BNB Chain chain has always lacked representative DEXs. In the midst of Perp DEX, CZ took advantage of the situation and "cummed" his "child" and it also had obvious intentions. Aster is the exclusive investment and incubation project of YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), and is also the leader in BNB chain Perp DEX.

Aster was predecessored by the multi-asset liquidity protocol Astherus and the veteran derivatives exchange APX Finance. Astherus and APX Finance both have received investments from YZi Labs. Astherus was also the YZi Labs season seven incubation project. In December last year, Astherus and APX Finance announced a strategic merger and recently renamed the platform brand name to Aster.

Under the Perp DEX boom, Aster has also made significant efforts recently, backed by the big tree of Binance. With the brand name change, Aster's entire product positioning and product page have been greatly updated, and incentive plans such as trading points plan have been restarted to attract users to participate in the use.

Recently, Aster's Perp DEX ranking once climbed to second place, following Hperliquid.

With the influx of new and old players, the Perp DEX track is becoming more and more lively, and the on-chain derivatives market structure is expected to be reshaped.

Brand name change, Aster turns to "Perp DEX"

Astherus and APX Finance, the predecessors of Aster, were first star projects on BNB Chain. This year, CZ used and named the two projects many times during its on-chain DEX.

For example, CZ tweeted that it used Astherus' DEX. In March this year, on-chain analyst Ai also monitored that CZ used BNB to do long mubarak in APX Finance.

Astherus was established last year and can be said to be a dark horse on BNB Chain. It was selected for YZi Labs' seventh season incubation plan in July last year, and received an exclusive investment from YZi Labs in November. Astherus has been online for only half a year and has exceeded US$160 million, but it has now reached US$300 million, with a rapid growth.

Astherus is positioned at a multi-asset liquidity center, committed to maximizing the real returns of crypto assets. It has launched several innovative products such as AstherusEarn, a multi-strategy earnings product, and the perpetual contract DEX AstherusEX.

On AstherusEarn, users can pledge mainstream assets such as BTC and BNB to earn profits, and they can also pledge LST assets to earn other DeFi returns during pledge or use them for derivative transactions.

By working with CeFi institutions, Astherus uses the AI ​​active income strategy pool to generate revenue from crypto markets and traditional finance, bringing considerable real returns to users.

AstherusEX not only supports derivative transactions of mainstream assets such as BTC, but also supports pledge and transactions of assets such as LST (liquidity staking tokens) and LRT (liquidity income tokens).

In addition, Astherus's earnings stablecoin USDF also opens the second DeFi earnings curve for users.

APX Finance is even more old and was once the largest decentralized derivatives agreement on BNB Chain. Its business mainly provides on-chain perpetual contract transactions based on liquidity providers (LPs), supporting BNB Chain, Arbitrum, opBNB and Base multi-chain networks. APX Finance is characterized by providing users with up to 1001 times leverage, zero slippage and lower fees.

In addition to obtaining YZi Labs, APX Finance has also worked with Binance Web3 Wallet several times.

Based on its optimism about the decentralized derivatives market, Astherus and APX Finance announced the merger to become Aster, and their business focus also changed significantly and turned to Perp DEX.

Product upgrade, dual mode reshaping Perp DEX

Judging from the latest official website, Aster's entire UI/UX has undergone major updates. Aster is positioned as a multi-chain, highly liquid and secure decentralized perpetual contract.

Aster has been deployed on many mainstream public chains such as BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Solana, and Ehereum.

From a functional perspective, the "Trade" function used for perpetual contract trading is the first to recommend. In addition, Aster still retains the pledged multi-yield product "Earn" and the earning stablecoin USDF.

In terms of contracts, Aster introduces two trading modes:

Simple mode is suitable for beginners and is easy to get started. This model relies on the ALP fund pool to ensure liquidity and supports more than 40 trading pairs of mainstream assets and popular Meme coins; up to 1001x leverage can achieve zero slippage opening and no opening fee. At the same time, the simpler model has launched a simpler product "dumb" to guess the rise and fall, further lowering the trading threshold.

The Pro model is aimed at advanced traders. It adopts an order book mechanism and supports more professional trading functions such as grid trading. Users can enjoy deep liquidity and ultra-low handling fees (maker 0.01% / taker 0.035%) on multiple chains such as BNB Chain and Arbitrum. This model not only provides a low-cost and fast trading experience, but also ensures that user funds are managed independently and KYC is not required.

The dual-mode design not only retains the autonomy of decentralized transactions, but also provides a more accurate trading experience for all types of users through differentiated functional settings.

Aster said its goal is to build a professional contract platform that combines deep liquidity, low handling fees and silky trading experience, challenging or even surpassing Hyperliquid's position.

To catch up with Hyperliquid, why should Aster?

As the dark horse of this cycle, Hyperliquid still has the ability to not be underestimated although he has encountered a crisis of trust. Is it possible for Aster to catch up with Hyperliquid?

First, from the space potential of the entire track of Perp DEX, Hyperliquid has indeed brought more market attention to the Perp DEX track in this cycle, but the overall heating of Perp DEX also comes from market demand.

Compared with centralized exchanges, Perp DEX has a better listed currency effect. In addition, with the development of Layer2 and the multi-chain ecosystem, Perp DEX has significantly improved its transaction speed and user experience.

The CoinGecko report shows that the total trading volume of the top ten decentralized perpetual contract exchanges in 2024 reached US$1.5 trillion, more than double the total volume in 2023.

However, although decentralized perpetual contracts are heating up significantly, they are still in the early stages of development. The total trading volume of the top ten decentralized perpetual contract exchanges in 2024 is only 2% of the total trading volume of the top ten centralized perpetual contract exchanges, which means that the perp DEX penetration rate is still low and there is huge room for growth.

The market structure of the decentralized derivatives is not yet determined, and new and old players also need to innovate and optimize from multiple dimensions such as product performance, experience, and community to gain user minds.

From the product perspective, what are the advantages of Aster?

First, the minimum handling fee for the entire network. Aster's Taker rate is only 0.03%, and Maker rate is as low as 0.01%, lower than Hyperliquid's adjusted 0.045% Taker rate (starting April 30, 2025). In addition, Aster has launched a VIP level mechanism, which has a larger transaction volume, lower the handling fee, providing significant cost advantages for high-frequency and large-value traders. Low rates have become the key competitiveness to attract users, especially in high-frequency trading scenarios, cost savings are particularly obvious.

The second is deep liquidity. Aster has cooperated with market makers of top centralized exchanges such as Binance to build a strong liquidity pool, and its bid-ask spread is close to Binance's level.

The third is product diversification. Aster's Simple and Pro models cover novice and professional traders, meeting the diverse needs of different users.

In addition, Aster's Perp DEX has a liquidity and user base from the beginning. Aster's pre-merger revenue products accumulated nearly $350 million in liquidity.

Recently, Aster's Perp DEX has also exploded. According to Defilama data, Aster's ranking is basically stable in the top five, climbing to second place at one point, following Hyperliquid. According to Dune panel statistics, Aster's total trading volume is about to exceed US$400 billion, with a total number of users of about 750,000, and nearly 12,000 daily trading users. The trading activity of its platform continues to rise.

In the long run, Aster is also responding to competition in terms of ecological products, product experience and other aspects. Judging from the roadmap, it will soon launch a dedicated Layer1, blockchain browser, mobile app, etc., to improve user experience and decentralization, and attract more contract users.

At the ecological level, Aster is expected to enjoy the benefits of BNB Chain ecological support. After the rise of Hyperliquid, all public chains, especially CEX public chains, will also support their own ecological DEX to compete.

The Solana ecosystem has multiple phenomenal DEXs such as Raydium and Jupiter, while BNB Chain seems to lack a player of similar magnitude. After Perp DEX heats up, it is natural for BNB Chain to support Aster, which it invests in.

**What opportunities do users have to participate under the airdrop

expectations?**

Under the Perp DEX craze, Aster, as a representative player of YZi Labs investment, is also a popular project that the hair-beating party has participated in recently.

Aster's recently restarted trading points plan may indicate that TGE is imminent.

Judging from the official documentation, the user incentive mechanism is currently in the Stage 1:Spectra stage. Its points system is divided into two categories: Au points and Rh points, and points can be used as allocation certificates for obtaining AST airdrops in the future.

To obtain Au points, users obtain by minting and holding Aster Earn-related assets (such as ALP, USDF, LP Token).

To obtain Rh points, users mainly obtain by trading perpetual contracts using Aster Pro mode:

1. Obtaining Rh points by trading in Pro mode can be used to redeem future $AST airdrop rewards, providing continuous incentives for active platform supporters and traders.

2. Users invite friends and form teams to enjoy up to 1.2 times Rh Points bonus.

3. The platform has recently launched a US$50,000 transaction activity to reward users every two weeks, and on the basis of points, additional transaction bonuses are given.

For early participants, Aster also provided support by adjusting transaction rates and rebate programs. For example, the VIP level plan recently launched by Aster, the larger the user transaction volume, the lower the expected fee rate; and the upcoming invitation and rebate ladder plan also has the greater the transaction volume of the recommended person, the higher the proportion of the recommended person's rebate.

Conclusion

In general, Aster, as part of the Binance ecosystem, has advantages such as strong ecological support and low handling fees, and is expected to gain a place in the decentralized perpetual contract market. However, to replace Hyperliquid, Aster needs to continue to make efforts in brand awareness, technology maturity and market acceptance.

As the Perp DEX market continues to heat up, competition will become increasingly fierce, and competition between Aster and Hyperliquid will also drive the development of the entire industry.