Aster DEX XRP Volumes Track Binance Levels, Prompting Questions About Market Hype

DefiLlama has delisted Aster’s perpetuals data after its founder flagged suspicious correlations in XRP trading volumes, raising questions about the accuracy of activity reported on the up-and-coming decentralized exchange.

Earlier Monday, DefiLlama’s pseudonymous founder, 0xngmi, noted on X that Aster’s XRP perpetual volumes were nearly identical to Binance’s, suggesting possible wash trading or data manipulation. “Until we can verify if there’s wash trading, Aster perp volumes will be delisted,” 0xngmi wrote.

Aster, like other perpetual DEXs such as Hyperliquid, allows leveraged long and short trading without a centralized exchange. The platform recently topped DefiLlama’s leaderboard for daily fees and volume, briefly surpassing Hyperliquid.

Aster’s native token, ASTER, has soared from $0.09 to over $2 in under three weeks, delivering early investors gains of more than 1,500%, with XRP and Ether volumes driving much of the reported activity.

While one wash trading risk model rated Aster “low,” the near-perfect correlation with Binance volumes was deemed concerning. By contrast, Hyperliquid maintained a lower correlation with Binance and retained its metrics despite a “medium” risk rating.

Adding to the spotlight, Binance listed ASTER with a “Seed Tag” on Monday, shortly after the delisting. Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, an advisor to Aster, has recently promoted the project actively on X.

ASTER prices initially fell 10% after DefiLlama’s action but recovered following Binance’s listing. Aster has not yet responded to requests for comment.