People who truly care about crypto and freedom should not support $Aster or anything connected to #Binance
The future of crypto doesn’t need criminals who learned nothing. It needs users who finally do.
I know I will lose followers for saying this. It always happens when I speak out about corruption, fake decentralization, and market manipulation. But I would rather lose followers than stay silent.
Aster DEX is presented as a decentralized perpetual exchange on the BNB Chain. It offers up to 1,001x leverage and claims to be MEV-free and community-driven. In reality, its structure and data prove the opposite.
Aster’s reported trading volumes were almost identical to Binance’s spot markets. On September 25, 2025, its 24-hour perp volume suddenly exceeded Hyperliquid’s by more than three times. Within twelve days, volumes exploded from 1 billion USD to 85 billion USD. Analysts quickly noticed the pattern: the exact same spikes and dips as Binance, down to the minute.
On October 5, DeFiLlama delisted Aster entirely. The platform cited “integrity concerns” and confirmed there was no verifiable on-chain data. Aster’s trades come from off-chain APIs that can easily be manipulated. This means the entire “DEX” is only a front — a CEX disguised as DeFi.
At the same time, Aster changed its airdrop rules. Users were told that rewards would accumulate across four epochs. Instead, Aster quietly changed it to an equal split per epoch, punishing later participants. Thousands of users lost value while insiders and early farmers benefited. Screenshots from Aster’s Discord contradicted the final announcement. Chinese communities called it fraud and demanded accountability.
It is a deliberate system designed to extract value from users.
Behind it all stands Changpeng Zhao @cz_binance the former CEO of Binance. In November 2023, he pleaded guilty to willfully violating US anti-money-laundering laws. Under his leadership, Binance processed more than 100 billion USD in illegal transactions linked to terrorists, drug traffickers, and sanctioned entities. He personally paid 100 million USD in criminal fines and served four months in federal prison.
After his release, CZ launched YZi Labs, which now funds Aster. His own wallet activity and tweets directly pumped the $ASTER token by hundreds of percent before DeFiLlama exposed the fake volume. Aster’s team includes former Binance engineers and operates from weak offshore jurisdictions, protected by the same playbook Binance used for years.
Aster’s UI, its API-based trades, and its opaque data structure show that it is not decentralized. It can suspend markets, modify balances, and rewrite data without blockchain proof. When DeFiLlama delisted it, KOLs paid by Aster started attacking the platform, claiming Dune Analytics showed the “real” data. Days later, it was revealed that the Dune dashboard was based on DeFiLlama’s own API — the same data they claimed was wrong.
This entire situation is a mirror of what happens when centralization hides behind the DeFi label. Aster’s token crashed more than 15 percent, its market share fell below ten percent. #Hyperliquid reclaimed the top spot because it built real transparency, not just marketing.
I don’t hate Aster for competing. I hate it because it embodies everything crypto was meant to replace: deception, manipulation, and blind worship of powerful figures. CZ’s name still carries influence, but it should remind people of what happens when one man controls too much.
Crypto and freedom cannot coexist with this kind of system. Aster and Binance represent the same disease under different branding, one that turns decentralization into a slogan while controlling everything behind closed doors.
Much respect for @0xngmi and @DefiLlama for staying true to the original ethos of crypto; transparency, integrity, and the refusal to amplify lies.
If you care about financial freedom, transparency, and trustless systems, stop giving these people your attention, your volume, and your money.
The future of crypto doesn’t need criminals who learned nothing. It needs users who finally do.
