Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has recently thrown his support behind Aster (ASTER), a decentralized derivatives platform that is aiming to challenge the dominance of Hyperliquid in the sector.
In a post on X dated September 19, Zhao announced that Aster had emerged as the largest holder of BSC-USDT, second only to Binance’s own hot wallet. According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Aster’s wallet currently holds $131 million in USDT, trailing behind Binance’s $236 million. This announcement came just a day after Zhao praised Aster’s Token Generation Event (TGE), commending it as a strong start and encouraging the developers to keep pushing forward.
Zhao’s endorsement has given a significant boost to Aster, which has been gaining attention across the industry. The project initially launched as ApolloX in 2021 and later merged with Astherus in late 2024, leading to a rebranding and a new focus that culminated in the recent TGE. YZi Labs, a venture capital firm associated with Zhao, backs Aster, contributing to the project’s growing investor interest.
As a result of Zhao’s support and the recent developments, ASTER has experienced a remarkable surge, with its price skyrocketing by over 800% to $0.81593 and its market capitalization reaching $1.3 billion. The positive momentum has also spilled over to APX, the previous token of ApolloX, which saw a surge of over 600% during the same period. Lookonchain, a blockchain analytics firm, highlighted a case where an early APX investor turned their $226,000 stake into more than $2 million following the merger and token swap.
Aster has quickly established itself as one of the leading decentralized derivatives platforms, processing $1.4 billion in trading volume within 24 hours of its launch, according to data from DeFiLlama. While this places Aster among the most active exchanges in the sector, it still faces tough competition from Hyperliquid, which handles around $10 billion in volume over the same period. Despite the challenges, Aster’s endorsement by Zhao and its strong initial performance suggest that it has the potential to make a significant impact in the decentralized derivatives space.