Aster Pops 10% After Buyback-Burn Reveal, Giving Hyperliquid Something to Squint At 🪐

Decentralized perpetuals exchange Aster climbed roughly 10% after the project announced a token buyback and burn mechanism, drawing fresh attention to the Hyperliquid rival's deflationary token design. The move positions Aster alongside a growing cohort of perpetual DEXs that have tied exchange revenue to supply reduction rather than straight distribution to tokenholders.

Hyperliquid, which pioneered the Hyperps model for perpetual futures without a traditional order book, has until recently dominated mindshare in the onchain derivatives segment. Aster's traction on BNB Chain and its attempt to merge spot and perpetual liquidity into a single order book have framed it as the most cited competitor to Hyperliquid's stack in 2025.

Tokenomics details published by the team outline a recurring cycle in which a portion of protocol fees is routed to open-market purchases of $ASTER, with the acquired supply subsequently sent to a burn address. The model mirrors the deflationary loops used by Ethereum's EIP-1559 and Hyperliquid's $HYPE buyback mechanism, both of which have been credited with influencing trader retention on their respective platforms.

Aster's perp DEX has reached multi-billion-dollar daily volumes since its late-summer launch, and the buyback-burn structure now routes a slice of that activity directly to supply contraction. The platform has also leaned on aggressive points campaigns and high leverage tiers to onboard traders accustomed to centralized exchange UX.

The price reaction arrives against a broader backdrop of cooling volatility across crypto majors, with $BTC and $ETH trading sideways as the first FOMC meeting under Kevin Warsh convenes. Derivatives traders watching the perp-DEX race will note that Aster's token response is the latest datapoint in an increasingly tight contest for onchain perpetuals volume.