The Tweet That Moved Markets
On 18 September 2025 Changpeng Zhao posted a price chart that was neither BTC nor BNB.
The line belonged to ASTER, a decentralised perp-exchange that had gone live the day before.
“Nice launch. Keep building!” he wrote.
Within hours the token was +400 %.
The message was unambiguous: CZ was declaring war on Hyperliquid.

What Exactly Is ASTER?
Born December 2024 from the merger of Astherus and APX Finance, ASTER is a multi-chain DEX aggregating liquidity across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana and Arbitrum.
Since its March 2025 mainnet it has served 2 million traders and processed US$514 billion in volume, while TVL peaked at US$2 billion before cooling to US$655 million.
Spot and perps sit side-by-side; the first listed pair was ASTER/USDT.

Plugging MEV and Manipulation
Orders remain “hidden” until execution, foiling frontrunners and liquidation hunters.
Traders can post liquid-staked assets (asBNB, USDF) as collateral, earning yield while they punt.
USDF, the ecosystem stablecoin, is minted against delta-neutral positions, turning idle margin into a revenue stream.
ZK-proofs and a purpose-built Aster Chain are already in closed beta.

ASTER vs. Hyperliquid: Two Paths
Hyperliquid’s edge is its bespoke L1: ~70 % of DeFi perp OI, US$8 billion daily volume, 40× max leverage.
ASTER answers with 100× on most pairs, 1,001× on selected ticks, equity perps that trade 24/7, and cross-chain composability with Pendle, Venus, PancakeSwap.
The pitch: keep your BNB staking yield, your USDT lending rate and your trading P&L.

Tokenomics Brief
80 billion ASTER: 53.5 % community, 30 % ecosystem, 7 % treasury, 5 % team, 4.5 % liquidity.
25 % unlocked at TGE, the rest vests over nine months.
Fees buy back and may burn ASTER; tokens also unlock governance, discounts and collateral utility.

HYPE’s Counter-Model
Hyperliquid’s HYPE uses aggressive buy-backs powered by >US$1 billion annual revenue, creating a deflationary fly-wheel.
But a large employee unlock looms in November, threatening to swamp the burn.
ASTER sacrifices short-term buy-back muscle for wider distribution and network effect.

Binance’s Defensive Play
YZi Labs (ex-Binance Labs) backed Astherus in November 2024, months before CZ’s tweet.
ASTER is now the flagship perp DEX on BNB Chain, plugged into ListaDAO, Kernel, YieldNest and more.
Rather than clone Hyperliquid’s L1, Binance is hedging: leverage existing regulatory rails, fiat ramps and deep CEX liquidity while letting DeFi absorb the innovation risk.

The Real Test
TVL has already retraced 67 % from its peak.
Multi-chain yield stacking sounds seductive, but traders must decide whether 3 % on margin is worth leaving a battle-tested engine for an experimental alternative.
If ASTER can deepen books, survive unlocks and keep volumes, CZ’s “Keep building” may age well; if not, it will rank among his costliest tweets.

The Tweet That Moved Markets
On 18 September 2025 Changpeng Zhao posted a price chart that was neither BTC nor BNB.
The line belonged to ASTER, a decentralised perp-exchange that had gone live the day before.
“Nice launch. Keep building!” he wrote.
Within hours the token was +400 %.
The message was unambiguous: CZ was declaring war on Hyperliquid.

What Exactly Is ASTER?
Born December 2024 from the merger of Astherus and APX Finance, ASTER is a multi-chain DEX aggregating liquidity across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana and Arbitrum.
Since its March 2025 mainnet it has served 2 million traders and processed US$514 billion in volume, while TVL peaked at US$2 billion before cooling to US$655 million.
Spot and perps sit side-by-side; the first listed pair was ASTER/USDT.

Plugging MEV and Manipulation
Orders remain “hidden” until execution, foiling frontrunners and liquidation hunters.
Traders can post liquid-staked assets (asBNB, USDF) as collateral, earning yield while they punt.
USDF, the ecosystem stablecoin, is minted against delta-neutral positions, turning idle margin into a revenue stream.
ZK-proofs and a purpose-built Aster Chain are already in closed beta.

ASTER vs. Hyperliquid: Two Paths
Hyperliquid’s edge is its bespoke L1: ~70 % of DeFi perp OI, US$8 billion daily volume, 40× max leverage.
ASTER answers with 100× on most pairs, 1,001× on selected ticks, equity perps that trade 24/7, and cross-chain composability with Pendle, Venus, PancakeSwap.
The pitch: keep your BNB staking yield, your USDT lending rate and your trading P&L.

Tokenomics Brief
80 billion ASTER: 53.5 % community, 30 % ecosystem, 7 % treasury, 5 % team, 4.5 % liquidity.
25 % unlocked at TGE, the rest vests over nine months.
Fees buy back and may burn ASTER; tokens also unlock governance, discounts and collateral utility.

HYPE’s Counter-Model
Hyperliquid’s HYPE uses aggressive buy-backs powered by >US$1 billion annual revenue, creating a deflationary fly-wheel.
But a large employee unlock looms in November, threatening to swamp the burn.
ASTER sacrifices short-term buy-back muscle for wider distribution and network effect.

Binance’s Defensive Play
YZi Labs (ex-Binance Labs) backed Astherus in November 2024, months before CZ’s tweet.
ASTER is now the flagship perp DEX on BNB Chain, plugged into ListaDAO, Kernel, YieldNest and more.
Rather than clone Hyperliquid’s L1, Binance is hedging: leverage existing regulatory rails, fiat ramps and deep CEX liquidity while letting DeFi absorb the innovation risk.

The Real Test
TVL has already retraced 67 % from its peak.
Multi-chain yield stacking sounds seductive, but traders must decide whether 3 % on margin is worth leaving a battle-tested engine for an experimental alternative.
If ASTER can deepen books, survive unlocks and keep volumes, CZ’s “Keep building” may age well; if not, it will rank among his costliest tweets.