Decentralized exchange Aster has come under fire after DefiLlama delisted its perpetuals volume data, leaving the community divided.
Author: Sahil Thakur
6th October 2025 – Decentralized exchange Aster has come under fire after DefiLlama delisted its perpetuals volume data. The move follows concerns of wash trading and data manipulation, which surfaced after Aster’s volumes began mirroring those of Binance.
The delisting triggered a sharp 10% drop in Aster’s native token, ASTER, over the past 24 hours.
On Sunday, DefiLlama founder 0xngmi posted on X, citing strong correlations between trading volumes on Aster and Binance. Charts showed the mirrored activity across multiple trading pairs, including ETHUSDT and XRPUSDT, starting late Saturday.
The founder emphasized that Aster’s lack of transparent trade-level data made it impossible to verify whether the volume was organic. As a result, DefiLlama removed Aster’s data from its perpetuals leaderboard.
“Aster doesn’t make it possible to get lower-level data such as who is making and filling orders,” 0xngmi wrote. “Until we can get that data to verify if there’s wash trading, Aster perp volumes will be delisted.”
0xngmi also noted that they held no positions in ASTER or HYPE, a competing platform.
Shortly after the announcement, ASTER dropped more than 10%, trading around $1.86 at press time. The decline followed a period of rapid growth, where Aster had recently ranked #1 in daily fees and trading volume among perpetual DEXs tracked by DefiLlama.
The impact was further amplified by Aster’s recent airdrop. The project’s Genesis Stage 2 airdrop allowed users to immediately sell unlocked tokens, adding to the downward pressure.
The move sparked mixed reactions online. Some users supported the decision, calling it a necessary step for maintaining data integrity. Others suggested that DefiLlama could have added a warning label instead of removing the data entirely.
Meanwhile, pseudonymous analyst TechLead argued that if Aster had successfully bridged Binance liquidity into DeFi, it could be a positive development. “If they’ve actually on-ramped Binance liquidity into DeFi, it’s a done deal,” they wrote.
Still, others questioned the project’s transparency, especially with Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao listed as an advisor to Aster. CZ left Binance in 2023 as part of a plea deal with U.S. authorities.
After a lot of controversy on X, DefiLama founder 0xngmi further clarified that they were never paid to list/delist anything.
He also clarified that “Our users trust our data and make investing decisions based on it, if we report incorrect data they’ll make the wrong decisions”.
He mentioned that DeFiLlama had earlier delister “lighter” and other perp dexs before too and had nothing against Aster.
Aster has not issued an official statement on the delisting. CZ has also remained silent. With confidence shaken and token unlocks in progress, ASTER may face further volatility.
Aster’s Stage 3 roadmap promises improved reward mechanics. Whether that will be enough to restore trust remains uncertain. For now, the DEX will need to provide greater transparency to regain credibility in the eyes of analysts and traders alike.
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