Aster, a decentralized exchange (DEX) specializing in high-frequency perpetuals trading, has become the center of a fierce controversy following the explosive debut of its native token, ASTER. Launched on September 17 at a price of $0.02 during its token generation event (TGE), ASTER skyrocketed more than 7,000% in just four days, reaching an all-time high of $2 on September 21. This meteoric rise briefly pushed its market capitalization to an eye-popping $3.3 billion, drawing intense scrutiny from market participants and analysts. However, at the time of writing, the token has pulled back to $1.60, shaving off roughly $660 million from its peak valuation and settling its market cap at approximately $2.64 billion.
The dramatic price action has fueled speculation about potential market manipulation, particularly in light of reports that only six wallets hold or control more than 96% of the ASTER supply. Some social media users have claimed that Binance itself holds 95% of the 1.65 billion ASTER tokens currently in circulation. The token's rapid ascent was triggered by a public endorsement from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on his X account, which was widely interpreted as tacit support. Following CZ's post, both centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Bitget and Bybit and various DEXs on BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum have rushed to list ASTER.
Manipulation Allegations and Supply Concentration
Crypto trader and angel investor Cyclop argued that Aster does not have a working product to justify the market's valuation of the token, but 'that hardly matters anymore.' According to Cyclop, 'Everyone knows it's complete garbage, but the worst part: you can't short it. And that's exactly what makes ASTER bullish – they decide where the price goes because they control the entire supply. You can argue all day that supply control is bad, but this project is proof that it works. Heavily controlled supply = bearish. Heavily controlled supply by trusted people = bullish.' This perspective highlights a growing sentiment in crypto that token prices are often driven more by the profile of backers and funding than by actual utility.
Speculation on Listing Strategy
Another point of contention is the order of listings: ASTER was first listed on perpetual futures (perps) markets before being made available on spot exchanges. One user hypothesized that this strategy was deliberately designed to encourage short selling. 'Simple human psychology: the whole market is dumping, one token is going up, let's short it. They will liquidate all these sellers to pump $Aster even more volatile. You saw the dip at $1. You saw the dip before $2,' the user argued. According to this theory, the process will continue until Aster gains enough dominance to challenge Hyperliquid and other leading perps DEXs.
As of press time, ASTER trades around $1.60, with the market deeply divided over its intrinsic value. Whether ASTER is a legitimate innovation or a carefully orchestrated pump remains unclear, but the combination of CZ's backing and extreme supply concentration has turned it into one of the most talked-about assets in crypto – a memecoin disguised as a DEX token. This episode once again raises critical questions about transparency and fairness in the crypto market.