In today’s on-chain perpetual DEX sector, HYPE has delivered an unprecedented 100x rally, completely raising the valuation ceiling for decentralized derivatives. As a major project in the same sector, ASTER has become the token that has sparked the most debate and division in the market.
Everyone’s key questions boil down to five points:
1. What is ASTER’s actual platform usage like? Are the claims that its “trading volume is inflated and nobody uses it” really true?
2. Product usability: how does ASTER compare with HYPE, and which is stronger? Can it retain mainstream users?
3. Comparing ASTER with HYPE, where does the gap in their underlying flywheels lie? Is there really a chance for ASTER to double in value? Does ASTER have a buyback mechanism? What are the airdrop details, team token lockups, and unlock schedule?
4. Are the rumored ties to CZ and Binance a genuine endorsement backed by resources, or just market hype?
5. Where is the on-chain DEX sector ultimately headed, and can ASTER benefit from its long-term growth?
Combining real on-chain data, hands-on product testing, and the sector’s underlying fundamentals, this article offers an unbiased, fundamentals-only deep dive.
I. First, the core debate: ASTER’s real usage. It’s not that nobody uses it—the user base is structured very differently from HYPE’s
The market’s biggest misconception is applying HYPE’s high-frequency trading volume as the benchmark for ASTER, then wrongly concluding that “nobody uses ASTER, its trading volume is low, and it lacks hype.”
1. HYPE users: pure high-frequency traders who build volume through turnover
HYPE’s core user base consists of professional derivatives traders, quantitative teams, and swing traders.
Typical user behavior: opening and closing positions frequently, adding to or reducing positions, and repeatedly turning over capital.
The direct result is explosive daily trading volume, very high fees, and a highly active market—typical of an ecosystem driven by trading activity.
2. ASTER users: focused on retaining funds, with trading secondary; usage is severely underestimated
ASTER’s key differentiating product is USDF yield-bearing margin. This is the most fundamental difference between its user base and HYPE’s.
Most ASTER users aren’t primarily looking to trade derivatives at high frequency. Instead, they want to:
Deposit USDF on the platform as margin and earn risk-free interest on demand, hands-free.
This creates a misconception in the industry:
• HYPE: Users trade every day → strong-looking data, visible hype, and a widespread impression that it’s hugely popular
• ASTER: Users deposit and hold funds to earn interest → very low on-chain turnover and seemingly low trading volume, but substantial real capital retained on the platform
The truth about ASTER’s actual usage:
It’s not that usage is low; its usage is largely under the radar.
A large amount of long-term capital remains locked in the ecosystem without frequent turnover. So there’s no inflated wash-trading volume or flashy market data. But its actual TVL and long-term user retention are more solid than those of 90% of DEXs on the market.
The claim that “nobody uses ASTER and its trading volume is fake” essentially reflects a failure to understand the different user models of these two sectors:
HYPE earns money from trading fees
ASTER earns money from retained capital and asset deposits
II. A deep comparison of product usability: ASTER outclasses HYPE and is the only on-chain DEX that can match the CEX experience
Many people focus only on token price gains and overlook the fact that product experience is the foundation for long-term user growth. This is precisely ASTER’s biggest hidden advantage.
1. ASTER usability: no barriers to entry, built for both beginners and large traders
ASTER has a three-tier interface design that’s more closely aligned with user habits than any other on-chain DEX today:
• Easy mode: One-click trading, a minimalist interface, and no complicated steps. Beginners can get started with no learning curve, using an experience comparable to a centralized exchange.
• Pro mode: A full order book, hidden orders, and ZK-encrypted private trading, meeting institutions’ and large traders’ needs to prevent price wicks and order sniping.
• Protection mode: Built-in risk controls help reduce the risk of contract liquidations and malicious liquidations
ASTER also supports the full leverage range, multi-chain assets, and both spot and perpetual trading. With no KYC and fully on-chain self-custody, it solves the pain points ordinary users face with on-chain DEXs: “too difficult to use, complicated to operate, and easy to make mistakes.”
Simply put, even people who don’t know how to use Web3 can get started with ASTER right away.
2. HYPE usability: Extremely professional, beginners need not apply
HYPE’s product is extremely minimalist and built entirely for professional trading teams.
The interface is basic, the features are advanced, and there’s no guidance for beginners, no yield products, and no way to park funds.
Ordinary users can’t make sense of the interface or figure out how to use it, resulting in very low retention.
Key differences at a glance:
• Short-term hype: HYPE leads (professional capital is concentrated there, with intense trading activity)
• Long-term user growth: ASTER leads (beginner-friendly, larger user base, more stable retention)
HYPE is a tool for insiders; ASTER is a product with the potential to break into the mainstream.
This is ASTER’s biggest hidden advantage for future upside.
III. A deep comparison of ASTER vs. HYPE’s underlying growth flywheels: ASTER does have buybacks, but they’re nothing like HYPE’s. We’ll also break down airdrops and team token unlocks
The huge difference in their price gains isn’t rooted in their products or user growth. It comes from vastly different underlying designs for their token-economy flywheels and token unlock schedules—which are also the key factors determining each token’s upside potential.
1. HYPE: Protocol-coded, mandatory buybacks and burns that never stop
There’s just one core reason HYPE can rise a hundredfold: protocol-level mandatory buybacks and burns, creating a perfect, airtight loop.
The complete flywheel:
Trading fees across the platform → all flow into the official fund → the protocol automatically buys tokens on the secondary market → tokens are permanently burned, creating permanent deflation
The key points: fully automatic and continuous. It buys even when the market is falling, and burns faster when the market is rising. The rules are written into the underlying smart contracts and aren’t subject to the team’s discretion.
On top of that, early airdrop tokens acquired at zero cost have been completely flushed out, leaving an extremely scarce circulating supply and creating an unstoppable bullish trend.
HYPE’s model: aggressive, high-risk/high-reward, explosive, with virtually unlimited upside
2. ASTER: It has a buyback mechanism, but buybacks are decided by the team rather than automatically enforced by the protocol. Airdrops and team token unlocks explained
Many people get this mixed up. ASTER does have buybacks, but they’re fundamentally different from HYPE’s:
ASTER’s funding sources: a portion of the platform’s trading fee revenue and treasury funds.
Rules: The team and community decide through proposals and votes when to buy back, how much to buy, and what to do with the tokens afterward. Buybacks aren’t hard-coded to execute automatically.
How ASTER ecosystem revenue is distributed:
Trading fees generated on the platform are first allocated to USDF margin depositors to pay interest on their deposits. Only the remaining surplus may be used for ASTER token buybacks.
The key differences between the two buyback mechanisms:
• HYPE: Every trade that generates fees triggers a buyback and burn. It’s mandatory, with no discretion. As long as the platform has trading activity, funds are continually used to buy and burn tokens.
• ASTER: Interest is paid to USDF depositors first. Only if funds remain afterward can a buyback proposal be made. If fee revenue doesn’t cover deposit interest, there are no funds available for buybacks. Buybacks are optional, not mandatory.
Also, tokens bought back by ASTER aren’t necessarily all burned. They may instead be kept in the treasury or used for ecosystem incentives, among other purposes. Burning isn’t their only possible destination.
ASTER token unlocks
1. Team allocation (5% of the total supply, or 400 million ASTER)
The original plan was to begin monthly unlocks in September 2026. On September 1, the team announced that the entire schedule would be delayed by one year, with all tokens locked until September 17, 2027. The team’s tokens will remain fully locked until then. Once unlocks begin, 10 million tokens will be released linearly each month. The team also added a positive note: future buybacks and burns will prioritize team-allocation tokens, reducing selling pressure on the market.
2. Airdrop allocation (53.5% of the total supply, the largest allocation)
A small portion of the airdrop was released at TGE, allowing early ecosystem participants to claim their tokens right away. Most of the remaining airdrop tokens aren’t locked until next year for a one-time unlock. Instead, they’ll be released gradually and linearly over a period of around 80 months, and the release schedule can be adjusted through community governance.
Simply put: The airdrop allocation is large, but its release is spread over a very long period, rather than dumped all at once. However, the steady trickle of tokens over the long term remains a potential source of ongoing supply pressure.
3. Ecosystem and treasury tokens
Treasury tokens can only be used with a community governance vote and are otherwise locked. The ecosystem community allocation has already shifted to a staking rewards model, with small weekly releases and a very low emission rate.
The team’s large allocation has been locked until 2027, following a delayed unlock. However, the remaining airdrop tokens will continue to be released gradually over several years; they aren’t all locked until next year and then unlocked at once.
ASTER has two advantages that HYPE lacks:
1. A clean token holder structure in the short term
The team’s large token allocation has been fully locked until a later date, so there’s no major team-related selling pressure in the short term. There’s no need for a prolonged shakeout, and the token distribution is much more stable than HYPE’s. However, keep in mind that the gradual, ongoing airdrop releases represent long-term supply pressure.
2. Highly resilient ecosystem cash flow
It doesn’t rely on high-frequency trading or market hype. Instead, it earns from users keeping funds on the platform over the long term. This provides stable cash flow even in a bear market and strong downside resilience.
3. The ultimate question: Can ASTER’s price rise? Does it have a chance?
• Repeating HYPE’s hundredfold rally: extremely unlikely
ASTER lacks a rigid, continuous automatic burn flywheel at the smart-contract level. Buybacks depend on surplus profits and community votes. Without steady, sustained buying on the secondary market, it’s difficult for the token to achieve an epic one-way rally.
• Doubling over the medium to long term and delivering a steady bull run: relatively high likelihood
1. Its usability is among the best in the industry, allowing it to continually attract new beginner users
2. It has a solid base of deposited funds and stable cash flow from real business activity
3. The team’s large token allocation has been locked for longer, eliminating significant short-term selling pressure
4. The sector is still in its early growth phase, with overall market share continuing to expand. Surplus funds could also enable buybacks, serving as a positive catalyst
Summary:
HYPE is the wild card: explosive gains, high volatility, and high returns
ASTER is the blue-chip contender: a steady long-term bull run, with lower drawdowns and more stable gains
ASTER’s returns come from the growth of the sector, not short-term sentiment-driven speculation. Its price may rise more slowly, but the gains can be steadier, last longer, and carry less risk.
IV. The real relationship between ASTER, CZ, and Binance: not a direct subsidiary, but a project with close ties and access to key resources
There are rumors everywhere. Let’s set the hype aside and stick to facts that can be verified:
1. Team background
ASTER’s core founding team and early key members came from Binance’s core futures development team. They have deep roots in Binance’s derivatives business and understand CEX trading mechanisms, user operations, and risk controls far better than most competitors.
2. Resource support
ASTER was listed in Binance Alpha’s core section and received official traffic support, ecosystem exposure, and credibility. It’s a key incubated DEX project with Binance’s implicit approval.
3. No direct affiliation
CZ hasn’t invested directly or publicly endorsed the project, and Binance has no official equity stake. ASTER isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary, and there’s no unconditional backstop.
The real picture:
An incubated project with close ties to Binance, benefiting from top-tier industry resources while operating independently and bearing responsibility for its own profits and losses.
The team’s background is a bonus; the token-economy model is what determines success or failure.
ASTER’s ability to survive and continue developing is itself proof that its business model and ecosystem flywheel are far stronger than those of comparable Binance-affiliated projects.
These less visible ties to key resources are a major advantage for ASTER’s future listings on major exchanges, market-cap growth, and ecosystem expansion—and a core barrier that smaller DEXs lack.
V. The future of the on-chain DEX sector: Why is ASTER still at the very start of its growth opportunity?
Most trading volume in the overall crypto derivatives market is still concentrated on centralized exchanges. On-chain perpetual DEXs still account for a very small share of the market, and the sector is in its early stages of expansion.
The drawbacks of centralized exchanges are clear: assets are held by the platform, exposing users to risks such as platform risk controls, misappropriation of funds, and regulatory shutdowns. On-chain DEXs, by contrast, let users self-custody their assets, with rules set in smart contracts and no need to trust a platform. That’s a fundamental long-term advantage.
But the barriers to entry are high. You can’t succeed just by building an order book. To survive long term, a project must meet three requirements:
1. An easy-to-use product that lowers the barrier to entry for ordinary users;
2. A stable source of cash flow;
3. A sound token economy that manages selling pressure from token unlocks.
The sector probably won’t end up dominated by a single project. It’s more likely to split into two leaders:
One type, represented by HYPE, targets professional traders and follows a high-volatility, high-upside path driven by high-frequency trading and protocol-mandated buybacks and burns;
The other type, represented by ASTER, focuses on retaining deposits and offering yield-bearing margin. It lowers the barrier to entry, attracts ordinary users’ capital, and pursues steady, sustained expansion. If there’s surplus profit, it can initiate buybacks to support token value.
In the long term, on-chain derivatives will continue to take market share from CEXs. But many projects in the sector will be shaken out. Projects with poor products or broken token economies will drop out midway, giving up on token launches, as StandX did.
The sector’s growth opportunity is real, but it will only benefit two kinds of projects: those with an exceptionally strong token flywheel, or those with products that can consistently retain capital and keep ordinary users. ASTER belongs to the latter group.
Conclusion
HYPE has shown that a token can deliver hundredfold returns in the on-chain perpetual DEX sector, but its model is difficult to replicate.
ASTER has taken a completely different path: instead of generating trading volume through high-frequency turnover, it retains funds through yield-bearing margin and attracts new users with an accessible product. The team’s large token allocation has been locked until 2027, significantly easing short-term selling pressure. However, the airdrop allocation is substantial and will be released continuously over several years, making it a long-term supply pressure that needs to be monitored.