Aster, a decentralized exchange platform backed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, faced community claims it had only six daily active users. The project has denied the allegation, attributing it to incorrect contract data, and pointed to alternative metrics showing significant user growth and trading volume throughout February.
Aster, a perpetual decentralized exchange platform backed by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, is under community scrutiny over its user activity. Analyst Stacy Muur stated on-chain data revealed the platform had only six daily active addresses, asking, “What went wrong, CZ?”
The platform disputed the claim, suggesting the data stemmed from a mislinked contract address. Aster noted, “Looks like a data source linked the wrong contract address, so some numbers got creative.” The exchange pointed to a Dune Analytics dashboard showing 91,000 new users in the past week.
Trading volume and fee data also contradict the low-address narrative. According to DeFiLlama, the platform’s fees rose from a weekly average of $5 million in January to over $8 million in early February. It has since maintained over $1 million in weekly fees and nearly $10 billion in perpetual trading volume despite broader market weakness.
In comparison, rival Hyperliquid reported $18 billion in weekly volume with 2,700 new users, versus Aster’s claimed 91,000. The platform’s native ASTER token has rallied nearly 90% in the first half of February, with recent data showing net exchange outflows indicating accumulation. The token remains up approximately 66% for the month despite a recent minor pullback.
