Key Takeaways
- DefiLlama founder pointed out that Aster does not provide access to deeper trade data that could identify who is making and filling orders.
- Aster has pledged to improve its reward mechanisms and overall transparency in Stage 3 of the project rollout.
Leading decentralized exchange Aster is facing scrutiny after on-chain analysts observed that its trading volumes have begun to move almost identically to those on Binance’s perpetual markets, raising concerns of over deceptive trading practises.
Digital asset analytics platform DefiLlama’s co-founder 0xngmi took to X, stating that their team’s investigation found that Aster’s volume patterns, particularly in pairs like XRPUSDT and ETHUSDT, are now mirroring Binance’s perpetual futures nearly one-to-one — a sign that much of the activity could be inorganic or internally generated.
“We’ve been investigating Aster volumes, and recently their volumes have started mirroring Binance perp volumes almost exactly,” 0xngmi wrote, sharing comparative charts on X. “Chart on the left is XRPUSDT on Aster — you can see the volume ratio versus Binance is around one. Chart on the right is XRP perp volume on Hyperliquid, where there’s some decorrelation.”
The developer added that Aster does not provide access to deeper trade data that could identify who is making and filling orders. “Aster doesn’t make it possible to get lower-level data, such as who is making and filling orders, so until we can get that data to verify if there’s wash trading, Aster perpetual volumes will be delisted,” the tweet reads.
Wash trading is a deceptive and illegal practice in which a trader or group of traders buys and sells the same cryptocurrency, with the hopes to create a false appearance of high trading volume and demand.
The findings come at a time when Aster’s Genesis Stage 2 airdrop — which enabled immediate token sales — has fueled selling pressure and amplified market skepticism about the DEX’s trading integrity. Analysts now warn that ASTER’s price could fall toward $1 as traders continue offloading newly unlocked tokens.
In response to community criticism, Aster has pledged to improve its reward mechanisms and overall transparency in Stage 3 of the project rollout. Despite the assurances, confidence among traders remains fragile, as on-chain data continues to show activity that closely tracks centralized exchange volumes.
As of the latest market data, ASTER was trading down 1.76% at $1.89, reflecting ongoing sell-offs following the airdrop. As per DefiLlama, ASTER’s daily perpetual trading volume surged to an all-time high of $60 billion on September 25
