The project Aster, backed by YZi Labs, has announced the launch of its mainnet, Aster Chain. This solution is positioned as an L1 blockchain focused on trading.
As the lotus lives in water, where no trace will remain.
— Aster 🥷 (@Aster_DEX) March 17, 2026
Leave nothing behind. Trade on Aster Chain. pic.twitter.com/GWe4iA7Uhx
The project aims to eliminate the "transparency trap" of modern DeFi and achieve the performance of centralized exchanges (CEX). To this end, the architecture integrates zero-knowledge cryptography and mechanisms for hidden addresses at the execution level.
100,000 Transactions Per Second
According to the developers, the block creation time in the new network is just 50 milliseconds, with a throughput of up to 100,000 TPS "with no transaction fees whatsoever."
In comparison, the top-performing networks, ICP and Solana, achieve real-time performance slightly above 1,000 TPS. Source: Chainspect.
For context, Solana's maximum theoretical performance is 65,000 TPS with a block generation time of 0.39 seconds.
Verifiable Privacy
Aster Chain implements account privacy by default, allowing users to selectively disclose information using special "viewing keys."
“Transparency between the protocol and users is a fundamental property, but openness to competitors is a critical vulnerability,” the developers noted.
They claim that the project's architecture makes privacy a prerequisite for a fair market, neutralizing attack vectors at the base level. All trading orders are encrypted using zero-knowledge proofs (ZK verification), and transactions are conducted through hidden one-time addresses.
Every order is ZK-verifiable encrypted and every transaction routes through a one-time stealth address.
— Aster 🥷 (@Aster_DEX) March 17, 2026
Put it another way: there's no way to link your wallet to your trades. No one can trace, correlate, or reconstruct your trading behavior.
Want to prove what you did? Generate…
“In other words, linking a wallet to trades is impossible. No one can track, correlate, or reconstruct a user's trading history,” the developers explained.
For transaction auditing, the developers have implemented a Viewer Pass key, which decrypts on-chain data exclusively for those granted direct access by the owner, keeping financial information hidden from outsiders.
Market Competition
Despite a general decline in on-chain derivatives trading volumes since late last year, Aster remains one of the most popular perpetual DEXs. The platform's trading volumes are comparable to those of Lighter and EdgeX.
However, the project significantly lags behind the segment leader, Hyperliquid, which has seen a sharp increase in trading volumes for oil contracts due to escalating conflicts in the Middle East.
Top 5 largest perp-DEXs. Source: CoinGecko.
Market Reaction and Future Plans
Following the mainnet announcement, the ASTER token rose by 8%. However, it soon corrected, losing all daily gains. At the time of writing, the coin is trading around $0.73 and ranks 47th in market capitalization on CoinGecko.
At launch, Aster Chain supports cross-chain deposits between Solana and EVM-compatible networks like BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Ethereum.
In the coming days, the team plans to activate staking and expand developer initiatives, including the Aster Code program.
Notably, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes predicted that the pricing of major U.S. stocks will shift from traditional exchanges to the on-chain space, with the market primarily focusing on perpetual contract charts.