How Aster, Lighter and Hyperliquid are competing for the next era of onchain trading

Cointelegraph

Key takeaways

A new wave of DEX wars has shifted from token incentives to a focus on speed, leverage and sustainable infrastructure.
Hyperliquid continues to lead the market with over $300 billion in monthly volume, strong liquidity and rising institutional adoption.
Aster’s growth is powered by airdrops, Binance-backed credibility and leverage that attract professional traders.
Lighter is gaining momentum through its Ethereum layer-2 speed, zero-fee trading model and exclusive points-based yield farming system.

Platforms like SushiSwap, PancakeSwap and Curve leveraged yield farming and governance token incentives to attract liquidity. This approach catalyzed rapid capital formation, bringing billions of dollars onchain within a short time.

Those early battles were about who could attract the most total value locked (TVL) and traders through token incentives — not about speed, leverage or institutional-grade infrastructure. The dust eventually settled with Uniswap taking the lead. The playbook it established, including liquidity mining, airdrops and tokenized participation, became the foundation for the more sophisticated decentralized exchange (DEX) wars now unfolding in perpetuals.

Inside the DEX liquidity wars

Hyperliquid, a DEX built on its own high-performance blockchain infrastructure, saw major growth in 2025. The exchange handled more than $300 billion in trading volume around mid-2025, with daily activity occasionally approaching $17 billion. Its deep liquidity and fast execution have helped it gain strong traction among active and professional traders.

One of the key drivers behind Hyperliquid’s strong growth was its ability to boost liquidity and user activity through a points-based rewards program. The effort eventually led to a large airdrop.

In total, 27.5% of the token supply was distributed to 94,000 addresses, rewarding early and active participants. What started as a way to get more people trading has since become one of the most valuable token distributions in recent crypto history. The airdrop is now valued at around $7 billion-$8 billion.

Rivals are, however, catching up fast.

Aster is a rapidly growing DEX built on BNB Smart Chain that has positioned itself as one of Hyperliquid’s main competitors. On some days, reported trading volumes have at times surged into the tens of billions of dollars, occasionally surpassing Hyperliquid’s figures. The project’s connection to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder of Binance, has also drawn significant attention from the market.

Meanwhile, Lighter, a new exchange built on an Ethereum rollup, has reported daily trading volumes surpassing $8 billion.

Together, these challengers are turning what was once Hyperliquid’s clear lead into a three-way fight for market share.

According to Calder White, chief technology officer of Vigil Labs — a Silicon Valley startup that recently raised $5.7 million to apply AI to understand and trade cryptocurrency markets — the apparent surge has very different underpinnings across platforms.

“Our system shows that Aster’s growth is very narrative-driven, with traders recycling capital to increase volumes, while Hyperliquid continues to carry the most organic flow from serious participants. Both Aster and Lighter are relying on the same points-to-airdrop playbook to bootstrap liquidity and activity to compete with Hyperliquid for market share,” said White.

Aster’s high-stakes play for DEX dominance

Aster’s momentum comes from its close ties to CZ, who now advises the project. His involvement has led many online to refer to Aster as “Binance’s DEX.” The exchange has introduced tokenized stocks, allowing users to trade major assets onchain with up to 1,000x leverage. It also plans to launch its own layer-1 blockchain.

The combination has turned Aster into one of the most daring experiments in DEX design to date.

Fueling that rise is Aster’s massive airdrop program, which rewards users for generating trading activity. Season two distributed 320 million Aster tokens worth about $600 million and concluded on Oct. 5, 2025.

The incentive model has already translated into strong activity. Aster recently generated over $20 million in 24-hour fees, placing it among the top revenue earners in decentralized finance (DeFi). There’s also growing speculation that the team may be using part of those earnings for token buybacks. If true, that move could further boost Aster’s token value and help sustain trader interest beyond the airdrop period.

Some participants stand to earn significant rewards, ranging from thousands of dollars to potential seven-figure payouts for the most active traders. The scale of these incentives has driven strong volume across the platform, although it remains to be seen whether users will continue trading once the rewards taper off.

Airdrops and exclusivity drive Lighter’s rise

Lighter has quickly established itself as one of the more technically ambitious stacks in DeFi. Built on a custom Ethereum layer-2 with zero-knowledge circuits, it supports sub-five-millisecond matching latency. The goal is to approach centralized exchange (CEX) speeds. The platform offers zero trading fees for retail users, while API and institutional flows face premium charges.

Lighter has driven rapid growth through its Lighter Liquidity Pool (LLP) program, which has become one of the most attractive yield opportunities in DeFi. The pool currently offers around 60% annual percentage yield (APY) on more than $400 million in deposits. Access to the LLP is linked to a user’s points balance, giving higher allocation limits to more active traders.

Lighter’s zero-fee model and points system have fueled growing speculation among traders. Since its launch, the exchange has recorded substantial trading volumes, at times rivaling Hyperliquid. Much of the excitement now centers on expectations of an upcoming token launch, widely rumored to take place later this year.

While there is no token just yet, there’s already a bustling over-the-counter market for Lighter points, with points being sold for tens of dollars each. Prices have climbed from $39 to over $60, with one trader reportedly spending $1 million at $41 each.

One of the easiest ways to value a perpetual DEX is by examining open interest (OI), which represents the total value of all trades still open on the platform. The higher the OI, the more real money is sitting in positions. On Hyperliquid, for example, $13.2 billion in OI supports a circulating market capitalization of about $15.2 billion.

Lighter currently holds about $2.1 billion in OI. Assuming roughly 15%-20% of tokens are unlocked at the time of its token launch, this would imply a circulating market cap of around $1 billion-$1.1 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) near $5 billion-$5.5 billion. With about 12 million points tied to that initial float, each point would be valued at roughly $83 to $100.

Should 15%-20% of the supply be allocated to the community, that would translate into an airdrop worth $750 million-$1.1 billion for users — potentially one of the most significant token distributions in DeFi since Hyperliquid’s drop.

Institutional liquidity enters the chat

A growing subplot in this battle is the gradual but notable entry of institutional liquidity. Funds that once avoided onchain derivatives, citing slippage, latency or compliance concerns, are now allocating test capital to these platforms.

Hyperliquid’s speed-focused, transparent design has attracted growing interest from professional traders, while Aster’s Binance-linked narrative is drawing significant attention across Asian trading communities.

Lighter, with its sub-five-millisecond execution speed and onchain settlement model, is drawing interest from prop-trading firms looking for yield without counterparty risk. The next phase of the DEX wars may depend less on airdrops and more on which platforms can offer the most reliable rails for serious capital.

Infrastructure vs. narrative: Who wins in the long run?

While competition between Lighter, Aster and Hyperliquid keeps heating up, Hyperliquid still sets the benchmark in onchain derivatives, supported by unmatched open interest, strong execution quality and growing institutional traction.

Instead of slowing down, the exchange has stepped up its efforts, introducing HIP-3, which allows anyone to launch a perp DEX on Hyperliquid’s rails, launching its USDH stablecoin and moving quickly to list perpetuals for rival tokens like ASTER to capture narrative-driven flows.

Hyperliquid has also kept its community engaged through new reward mechanics. The Hypurr non-fungible token (NFT) collection, launched on Sep. 28, 2025, quickly became a hit, with floor prices hovering around 1,200 HYPE (roughly $55,000 each). The collection’s strong demand has fueled speculation about future reward rounds and potential updates to the points program.

According to White, this split among emerging DEXs shows how far incentives can move markets compared to how much infrastructure can stabilize them.

“Hyperliquid is betting on execution and liquidity, while Aster and Lighter are showing just how far incentives can stretch the market,” he said.

“The real test will be whether traders stay once the airdrop music fades.”

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JPMorgan says Solana ETFs could see low inflows of around $1.5 billion in first year

The Block

Spot Solana exchange-traded funds are likely to be approved soon but will attract far lower inflows than spot Bitcoin or Ethereum ETFs, according to JPMorgan analysts.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to decide on nearly 16 spot crypto ETF applications this month, including those tied to Solana and XRP. The SEC recently simplified the process by introducing generic listing standards, removing the need for token-specific filings — a change that has led to a surge in new crypto ETF proposals. The final deadline for spot Solana ETFs is Oct. 10, and approval is widely anticipated.

"The strong likelihood of approval for Solana spot ETFs is reinforced by the fact that there is an already established futures contract at CME," JPMorgan analysts led by managing director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a report on Wednesday. They added that the first Solana spot ETF was already approved and launched by REX Osprey in July, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 — unlike other spot ETF filings, which fall under the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934.

The analysts also noted that optimism around ETF approval has already been reflected in the Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) premium to net asset value, which has fallen from over 750% last year to just above zero currently. The narrowing mirrors the pattern seen in Grayscale's Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts before their conversions into spot ETFs, they said.

JPMorgan says Solana ETFs are less likely to gain significant inflows

While the chances of Solana ETF approval are high, the analysts expect investor demand to be limited. They estimate around $1.5 billion in net inflows during the first year — about one-seventh the level seen by Ethereum ETFs in their first year.

That estimate is based on early flows into the REX Osprey Solana ETF, which has attracted nearly $350 million since launch, compared with $2.3 billion in inflows to spot ether ETFs (excluding Grayscale) during their first three months.

"A similar ratio emerges if one looks at the relative size of Solana’s DeFi TVL to that of Ethereum," the analysts wrote. "Applying this 1/7th ratio to Ethereum’s first year net inflows of $9.6 billion suggests that Solana ETFs could potentially see around $1.5 billion of net inflows during their first year."

The analysts cautioned, however, that Solana ETF inflows could fall short of even those projections. They cited weaker investor perception of Solana compared to Ethereum as the main DeFi/smart contract cryptocurrency, declining onchain activity such as falling active addresses since November 2024, and the dominance of memecoin trading on the Solana network. Additional factors include potential "investor fatigue" from multiple potential spot ETF launches, growing competition from diversified crypto index funds, corporate treasury products offering yield, and muted demand in CME Solana futures.

Notably, this latest forecast contrasts with earlier projections from another JPMorgan analyst team led by Kenneth B. Worthington, who estimated earlier this year that Solana ETFs could draw between $2.7 billion and $5.2 billion in net flows within six to 12 months if approved.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

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Could Stellar Price Retrace More Before Its Next Big Rally To $3?

Coinpedia

The Stellar price today remains in a tight consolidation phase between $0.38 and $0.40, as the market enters the early days of Q4 with cautious optimism. Currently trading around $0.38 with a $12.17 billion market cap, XLM continues to exhibit resilience following its breakout from a falling wedge pattern in the second half of the year. This consolidation near a key resistance area reflects strong market conviction that the XLM price USD could be preparing for its next upward leg.

Institutional Activity Reinforces Market Confidence

The latest Stellar price chart structure indicates that institutional involvement, especially in the RWA category, might be playing a crucial role in maintaining the asset’s stability at higher levels.

Stellar
@StellarOrg
Investing in commercial real estate doesn't need to have a high barrier for entry.
At Meridian, @apartmentpro from @RedSwanDigital announced the tokenization of $100 million in commercial real estate assets on the Stellar network, making it easier — and cheaper — to invest. pic.twitter.com/RTVyOj7ft1
Oct 08, 2025

Since the breakout seen in Q3, large-volume buying patterns have surfaced, suggesting sustained accumulation. Many traders view this as a positive sign that big players are taking advantage of temporary pullbacks to strengthen long-term positions in XLM crypto.

Furthermore, the rising trading volumes point toward renewed enthusiasm surrounding Stellar’s cross-border payment network. As more financial entities explore blockchain-based settlement systems, Stellar’s technology remains well-positioned to benefit from institutional adoption trends.

Sustained Accumulation or Pre-Rally Pause?

While the Stellar price forecast appears constructive, the ongoing consolidation could also represent a pre-rally pause a period of accumulation before a breakout.

The tight price band between $0.38 and $0.40 implies that market participants are building positions in anticipation of a larger upward move.

Such phases often lead to sharp directional expansions once resistance levels are breached, which makes this zone a critical watch area for traders.

Potential Retracement Before the Next Leg Up

Market discussions suggest that XLM might briefly retrace toward the $0.31 level before resuming its climb. This potential dip could act as an inducement zone, shaking out weak hands and providing liquidity for stronger buyers to re-enter.

If such a scenario unfolds, analysts believe that XLM could target higher milestones, with long-term projections pointing toward $3, and an extended stretch possibly reaching $8.

Could Stellar Price Retrace More Before Its Next Big Rally To $3?

While these targets may seem ambitious, they align with the broader sentiment that the Stellar price recovery is more structural than speculative. The combination of technical strength, institutional activity, and growing ecosystem adoption creates a supportive foundation for sustained long-term growth.

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New Survey Shows Massive Missed Opportunity In Bitcoin Finance (BTCFi)

Beincrypto

As Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high above $126,000, new data shows that most holders still haven’t explored Bitcoin Finance (BTCFi).

A survey by GoMining of more than 700 respondents across North America and Europe found that 77% of Bitcoin holders have never used a BTCFi platform.

77% of Bitcoin Holders Haven’t Tried BTCFi

This finding highlights a major disconnect between the growing hype around BTCFi and its real-world adoption. The sector has attracted significant venture capital and media coverage, yet the majority of its target users remain untouched.

The GoMining survey reveals that interest in BTCFi’s core offerings—yield and liquidity—is high, but trust remains the critical barrier.

Bitcoin Finance Survey Results. Source: GoMining

Around 73% of respondents said they want to earn yield on their Bitcoin through lending or staking, and 42% expressed interest in accessing liquidity without selling BTC.

However, more than 40% of participants said they would allocate less than 20% of their holdings to BTCFi products.

This conservative stance reflects broader trust and complexity issues facing the industry.

“Although the majority of Bitcoin investors hold it in store for future valuation boost, the asset has more liquidity to power the next generation of DeFi applications. While the corporate adoption of Bitcoin as a treasury asset is growing, the coin can act as much more than a HODL asset. BTCFi will offer new potential use cases — earning, borrowing, and spending,” said Mark Zalan, CEO of GoMining.

A Bitcoin Education Problem

Perhaps the most revealing figure is that 65% of Bitcoin holders cannot name a single BTCFi project.

Despite millions in venture funding and an increasing number of conferences, BTCFi’s message has yet to reach its core audience—Bitcoin holders themselves.

Industry experts argue this is not a user failure but a communication failure. BTCFi platforms have largely replicated Ethereum’s DeFi model, assuming familiarity that many Bitcoin investors simply do not have.

Different Users, Different Expectations

The survey supports a growing view that Bitcoin users are fundamentally different from DeFi users.

While Ethereum users embrace experimentation and composability, Bitcoin holders prioritize security, regulation, and simplicity.

This difference explains why Bitcoin ETFs and custodial platforms have achieved mass adoption while BTCFi remains niche.

The timing of these findings is critical. Bitcoin’s surge to an all-time high reflects renewed institutional and retail interest in BTC.

“At $125,559, many still consider Bitcoin undervalued, drawing on its superior technology, Wall Street adoption, and its limited supply. The Bitcoin price outlook is benefiting from the September interest rate cut, the current US government shutdown, and the expanding M2 global money supply,” Zalan told BeInCrypto.

Yet, the survey shows the financial layer around Bitcoin remains underdeveloped.

If even a fraction of holders deploy their BTC into yield or liquidity protocols, the BTCFi sector could unlock billions in dormant capital.

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Afghanistan internet blackout ’a wake-up call’ for blockchain decentralization

Cointelegraph

Afghanistan’s recent nationwide internet outage has underscored a critical weakness in the world’s leading decentralized blockchains — their dependence on centralized internet providers that remain vulnerable to government intervention and technical failures.

The country suffered a near-total internet shutdown that lasted about 48 hours before connectivity was restored on Oct. 1, Reuters reported. The disruption was reportedly ordered by the Taliban administration, though officials later blamed “technical issues” involving fiber optic cables.

While blockchains aim to provide people with a public, censorship-resistant network for value transfers, their reliance on centralized internet providers makes these use cases challenging during internet outages.

“The Afghanistan blackout is not just a regional connectivity crisis: it is a wake-up call,” according to Michail Angelov, co-founder of decentralized WiFi platform Roam Network. “When connectivity is monopolized by a handful of centralized providers, the promise of blockchain can collapse overnight,” he said.

The nationwide internet and mobile data services outage affected about 13 million citizens, according to a September report from outlet ABC News. This marks the first nationwide internet shutdown under the Taliban rule, following regional restrictions imposed earlier in September to curb online activities deemed “immoral.”

The Taliban denied the ban, blaming the internet outage on technical issues, including fiber optic cable problems.

Iran has also been facing internet censorship issues since the start of its conflict with Israel.

The Iranian government shut down internet access for 13 days in June, except for domestic messaging apps, prompting Iranians to seek out hidden internet proxy links for temporary access, The Guardian reported on June 25.

DePIN projects are building decentralized internet infrastructure

The Afghanistan blackout adds momentum to calls for decentralized connectivity solutions that remove single points of control.

Decentralized wireless networks are emerging as alternatives to centralized internet providers, as part of a broader technological shift known as a decentralized physical infrastructure network, or DePIN.

Roam aims to build a smartphone-powered decentralized wireless network that crowdsources mobile signal measurements to create a “living map of connectivity.”

Along with the project’s incoming eSIM implementation, this enables devices to automatically select the best available internet options, including public carriers, a private mesh, or a peer-powered local network.

“Roam users can see in real time what works where: no guesswork during outages,” which ensures a connection even when “centralized backbones fail,” said Angelov

World Mobile is the largest decentralized network with 2.3 million daily active users, spanning over 20 countries, according to data from worldmobile.io

The project surpassed $9.8 million in total revenue in August, which represents revenue distributed across AirNode operators, stakers and other contributors.

Helium is the second-largest decentralized wireless network, with over 190 countries and 112,000 total hotspots worldwide. It claims to have over 1.3 million daily users on its decentralized network.

Users are incentivized to host a hotspot for internet coverage through Helium (HNT) token rewards.

Advocates say blockchain technology’s promise of financial freedom and censorship resistance cannot be fully realized until the underlying internet itself becomes more distributed.

As Angelov put it, “If decentralization stops at the protocol layer, we haven’t really solved the problem — we’ve just shifted where the control lies.”

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'Huge': Adam Back Reacts to First EU Country Buying Bitcoin

U.Today

Blockstream CEO Adam Back has reacted to Luxembourg becoming the very first eurozone country to invest in Bitcoin, describing the development as "huge."

Earlier today, Luxembourg Times reported that the sovereign wealth fund (FSIL) of the uber-rich European country had decided to invest 1% of its total assets in Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies.

The fund, which is overseen by the Luxembourg government, gets funded with revenues from fuel taxes, excises, parts of VAT, and so on.

As of late June, the fund had a total of €764 million worth of assets.

The Bitcoin investment comes after the fund of the tiny EU nation recently opened the door to more diversification.

Even though 1% is a relatively small percentage, Back, who is famous for being cited in the Bitcoin white paper, claims that the BTC price will eventually "fix" that.

Watershed moment?

The small investment is unlikely to move the price of Bitcoin, but it shows that crypto is now a maturing asset that can be viewed as a viable investment by nation-states.

State funds, such as FSIL, tend to be rather conservative when it comes to their investment choices. The recent investment could further boost confidence in Bitcoin since Luxembourg is now the first eurozone country to embrace it.

Finland, for instance, also holds BTC, but these are forfeited coins from criminal proceedings.

Lagarde remains a Bitcoin skeptic

In the meantime, Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), remains a staunch Bitcoin skeptic, recently stated that the leading cryptocurrency has no underlying value.

In January, as reported by U.Today, Lagarde stated that Bitcoin would not enter the reserves of any of the central banks of the 27 member states.

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Dogecoin Creator Delivers Hilarious Crypto Verdict as Bitcoin Bulls Lose $363 Million

U.Today

Whoever thought that the crypto market’s roller coaster behavior only irritates retail traders and casual speculators has been proven wrong once again, as Dogecoin creator Billy Markus, better known as "Shibetoshi Nakamoto," demonstrated in his latest post.

In his signature tongue-in-cheek manner, Markus declared that “crypto should only go up and not down.” The line, a half-joke and half-truth, echoes the long-running meme that “numbers only go up” and, at the same time, captures what so many traders secretly want from this market — a one-way elevator to riches.

Shibetoshi Nakamoto
@BillyM2k
imo crypto should only go up and not down
Oct 09, 2025

Reality, however, keeps reminding everyone that the elevator often goes in both directions at full speed. In just the last 24 hours, $563.51 million worth of positions were liquidated across crypto derivatives. Out of that figure, $363.53 million were long positions, showing how brutal the downside can be for traders who pile in too aggressively. CoinGlass">

The trigger was Bitcoin’s failed attempt to smash through the $126,000 level toward a new all-time high. Bulls loaded up, markets got overcrowded and the inevitable flush came as a liquidity sweep that punished optimism in the most direct way possible.

Endless upside

The irony in Markus's comment lies in its timing — traders had just watched their numbers-only-go-up dream collapse in a cascade of red candles.

Yet that is why his verdict resonates. It captures the essence of crypto’s contradictory charm: everyone knows volatility will cut both ways, but most still cling to the fantasy of endless upside.

In a market where humor often carries more truth than technical analysis, the DOGE creator has once again nailed the mood of millions with a single offhand remark.

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