Spot Ethereum ETFs see largest outflow week since inception, as ETH reclaims $4,000

The cryptocurrency world loves rumors, and lately, many have been circulating about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, and his connection to the Aster DEX. During a recent Twitter Spaces session, CZ cleared the air, saying neither he nor Binance officially supports the project. 

At the same time, Aster has been making headlines with record trading volumes and rising attention in the crypto market.

CZ Clearing Up the Confusion

On September 27, 2025, CZ finally addressed the speculation during a Twitter Spaces session with the Aster community that his venture firm, YZiLabs, holds a small stake in Aster DEX. However, he stressed that neither he nor Binance is officially backing the project. 

What has fueled confusion, he admitted, is that a few former Binance employees are now part of Aster’s team.

This subtle connection was enough for some in the market to assume CZ was deeply tied to the project, especially given Aster’s rapid growth. But CZ was firm in saying those assumptions were exaggerated.

Aster Hit Record Trading Volume

Despite the clarification, Aster’s numbers have been hard to ignore. The Multichain Perpetuals Exchange, built on the BNB Chain, has quickly risen to the spotlight. In just 24 hours, it clocked an eye-popping $46.9 billion in trading volume and now sits at a market cap of $3.4 billion. 

For a project this young, the growth has been nothing short of remarkable.

This kind of momentum naturally attracts speculation, and linking it to a figure like CZ only amplified the hype. Yet, as he reminded listeners, not every fast-growing project is secretly backed by Binance.

ASTER Price Analysis

After jumping 2227% last week, ASTER has cooled off amid the broader crypto market correction. As of now, the Aster token price hit $2.40 but is now consolidating around $1.98.

The price movement has followed previous predictions, rising from bottom to top and then pulling back. This shows the token is moving along the expected path.

Meanwhile, ASTER needs to hold support between $2 and $2.2. If it falls below this level, it could drop toward $1.8, where buying interest may increase.

Kelp DAO will have an AMA with UltraYield about the new Stable Gain launch on September 30. AMAs are a chance to learn details about rewards and product safety. If Kelp DAO shares big reward numbers or exciting future plans during the AMA, more people may buy KELP, hoping for higher returns. But if the talk is not interesting, the price may not move much. Usually, product launches have a bigger effect than AMAs, but surprise news could still act as a catalyst. Get more information here.

On September 29, Avalanche is holding the second episode of 'Building on Avalanche'. This event will talk about new projects like AI tools, secure signing, and improved APIs. When big updates like this come, investors may buy more AVAX if they believe these projects will bring new users and money to Avalanche. However, this event is a talk, not a product launch, so price may only move if there is exciting news shared live. If builders seem strong and community reacts well, there could be positive price movement. See details here.

Establishing a national Bitcoin strategic reserve may create negative market impacts for BTC and the US dollar, according to Haider Rafique, global managing partner for government and investor relations at crypto exchange OKX.

Rafique told Cointelegraph that any government holding significant portions of the BTC supply could manipulate prices by dumping its holdings onto the market, thereby disrupting the core proposition of BTC as neutral, decentralized money. 

He asked: “What happens in a few years if a new administration decides this was a bad idea?” Rafique added:

Bitcoin miner TeraWulf is seeking $3 billion in debt financing to expand its data center capacity, in a deal supported by Google, which holds a minority stake in the firm. 

The financing structure will be supported by Google and arranged by Morgan Stanley, TeraWulf CFO Patrick Fleury told Bloomberg on Thursday, and is intended to support further development of the firm's Lake Mariner campus in New York. The terms of the deal are still under negotiation, Bloomberg reported, and could launch as soon as October. 

Google backstopping the deal could lead to a better rating of TeraWulf's debt, and comes amid broader AI-infrastructure financings, such as the $1.5 billion debt offering from rival compute firm CoreWeave in July.

Google secured an 8% stake in the firm following last month's $3.7 billion 10-year deal between TeraWulf and FluidStack, which will lease the AI compute capacity. Four days later, a 160 MW expansion option brought an additional $1.4B backstop, taking Google’s backstop to about $3.2 billion and its pro forma stake to about 14% of TeraWulf. 

That deal could be worth as much as $8.7 billion, should FluidStack exercise two five-year extension options. The announcement of that deal led TeraWulf shares to jump, though the recent news has not had the same effect; WULF shares are down about 1.3% over the past five days, according to Yahoo Finance data. 

Bitcoin miner Cipher signed a similar deal with FluidStack, backed by Google, this week. That deal, worth $3 billion over its initial term and as much as $7 billion following optional extensions, will lead to Google taking a stake of about 5.4% in Cipher. Cipher simultaneously proposed a private offering of $1.1 billion in convertible senior notes maturing in 2031. 

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.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.