Highlights
BNB-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Aster has come into the limelight recently, this time facing integrity issues over its perpetual trading volumes. DeFi aggregator and open source platform DeFiLlama pulled the plug earlier today after delisting Aster’s trading volume data. The ASTER token has tanked 10% in the last 24 hours, facing strong selling pressure recently. Interestingly, this development happens just ahead of the Phase 2 airdrop scheduled ahead this week on October 10.
As the Aster decentralized exchange gears for the Phase 2 airdrop on October 10, the platform faces a major jolt. DefiLlama has announced plans to delist trading data for Aster’s perpetual contracts after identifying an “almost perfect correlation” between volumes reported by Aster and Binance. The similarity in trading activity raised concerns over the authenticity of Aster’s reported DEX trading volumes.
DefiLlama’s pseudonymous founder, 0xngmi, was the first to highlight concerns regarding Aster’s DeFi trading data. He has clearly shown evidence that Aster’s perpetual volume had recently started to closely mirror Binance’s activity.
He compared the trading for XRPUSD, on both Aster and its competitor, Hyperliquid. He noted that while Aster has a 1-1 correlation with Binance, Hyperliquid has clearly maintained some decoupling.
In the recent past, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has praised the project amid its rapid growth. Last week, multiple ASTER tokens were transferred to Binance spot wallets shortly after CZ’s public endorsement of the project. Market observers believe that this move could indicate a testing phase ahead of a potential listing on the exchange.
The development has pushed the ASTER token price lower, further by 10%, after losing the crucial support at $2.0. From the weekly high of $2.27 on October 4, the ASTER price is now down nearly 20%, eroding most of the gains.
Despite this development, whale activity around the ASTER token remains high. As per data on blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, a large investor, identified by the wallet address 0xfE5A, purchased 1.69 million ASTER tokens valued at approximately $3.16 million earlier today.
The whale reportedly deposited 2.92 million USDT into the Aster platform before withdrawing 1.69 million ASTER tokens. This signals a significant accumulation move amid growing market attention on the token.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $3.3 billion in net inflows last week, the 2nd largest…
Michael Saylor hinted that Strategy would not be making its routine Bitcoin purchase this week.…
Crypto experts have begun to make bullish projections for Pudgy Penguins’ native token, PENGU. This…
ASTER has announced that the roadmap for its second airdrop phase is set to begin…
El Salvador is now sitting on $482 million in unrealized gains in its Bitcoin holdings.…
The Bitcoin price has hit a new all-time high, after staging a monstrous rally since…