CZ personally verified that the Aster team has recruited multiple former Binance employees, and YZi Labs is investing in the new ecosystem of Decentralized Finance.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) recently retweeted and confirmed on social media X that the perpetual futures DEX Aster has hired "several former Binance employees," while his family investment fund YZi Labs holds a minority stake in the project.

In a subsequent X Space chat, CZ further clarified the boundaries of his relationship with Aster. He made it clear that he only serves as Aster's "product and technology" advisor, emphasizing that "he is not a team member, just an advisor."

01 Official Confirmation and Role Definition of CZ

CZ posted on platform X on September 28, confirming the personnel composition of the Aster team and its equity relationship with the investment fund and Aster.

He retweeted the relevant content and commented, "This content is completely correct and not difficult to understand," directly confirming two key pieces of information: that there are multiple former Binance employees in the Aster team and that YZi Labs holds a minority stake in Aster.

In response to the community's confusion about his role, CZ specifically clarified in a conversation on X Spaces: "I am just an advisor, not a team member." He elaborated that he only provides advice on products and technology, and does not participate in regulatory matters and related affairs.

02 Aster's Ecosystem and Market Performance

Aster, as a decentralized Perpetual Futures exchange, has recently attracted widespread attention in the market.

Its native token ASTER has soared from $0.45 to a historic high of $2.41 since its launch on September 19, with an increase of more than 400%.

As of September 28, the ASTER price has fallen from its peak, reaching a low of $1.65, testing the support of its 7-day average price of $1.88. Currently, $1.76 is considered a key support level.

In terms of business data, Aster has also shown strong momentum. Its daily revenue once approached 13 million dollars, surpassing the traditional stronghold Hyperliquid for the first time.

03 Unique Positioning and Technical Features

Aster has gained attention in the highly competitive DeFi derivatives market due to several unique positioning.

Multi-chain seamless trading

Aster supports four major networks: BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum, allowing users to conduct spot and Perptual Futures trading without the need for manual cross-chain efforts. This effectively addresses the issue of liquidity fragmentation in the current DeFi space.

"Trade and Earn" innovative mechanism

One of Aster's core innovations is allowing users to continue earning yields on their collateralized assets while trading.

For example, users can obtain asBNB by staking BNB, allowing them to earn staking rewards while using it as trading margin.

Hidden Order Function

To combat Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) attacks, Aster has introduced a hidden order mechanism, where orders are invisible before execution. This feature protects traders, especially the interests of large orders.

04 Competition and Symbiosis: The Subtle Relationship between Aster and Binance

In response to the community's view that "Aster's only competitor is Binance," CZ displayed an inclusive attitude. He responded, "Few people can understand this. Aster competes with Binance, but it also supports the development of BNB."

This statement reveals CZ's deeper strategic consideration – that even though Aster competes with Binance in the exchange business, it brings more vitality and users to the entire BNB Chain ecosystem, ultimately having a positive impact on the BNB coin.

05 Disputes and Risks: Questions of Ponzi Scheme and Market Volatility

Despite the endorsement from CZ and the involvement of former Binance employees, Aster also faces significant controversy.

Simon Dedic, the founder of Moonrock Capital, publicly pointed out that the project meets the seven characteristics of a "criminal Ponzi scheme."

These features include a lack of product innovation, a large allocation of tokens to insiders to create hype, and potential false trading operations.

At the same time, Supra CEO Joshua Tobkin questioned its level of decentralization, believing that its operation resembles that of a centralized exchange.

In addition, the ASTER token itself has shown extremely high volatility. In the past 24 hours, the token has dropped by 5.35%, while it has astonishingly risen by 2,147% over the past 30 days.

53.5% of the token supply is reserved for airdrops, which may lead to further sell-off pressure in the market.

06 Token Economics and Future Planning

The token economic model design of $ASTER highlights its emphasis on community-driven initiatives. Out of a total supply of 8 billion tokens, the vast majority (53.5%) is allocated to community rewards and airdrops.

Ecological development accounts for 30%, while the team accounts for only 5%. This highly community-oriented distribution method helps to incentivize early adopters and build strong network effects.

Aster CEO Leonard has announced that a token buyback plan will be revealed in the coming weeks, which is expected to become an important driver for increasing the token's value in the future.

At the same time, the project team plans to launch a dedicated Aster Chain L1 blockchain, aimed at solving performance and MEV issues to attract institutional users.

Future Outlook

The future development of Aster still faces many challenges. On one hand, it needs to cope with fierce competition from mature protocols such as Hyperliquid and dYdX; on the other hand, it must respond to doubts about the sustainability of its business model with tangible results.

But there is no doubt that CZ's endorsement and the joining of former Binance employees have provided Aster with a unique starting advantage in the competition in the DeFi space.