September 22, 2025
Today I mainly want to talk about Aster. Aster has made a lot of people rich, as the FDV surged to over 15 billion, and even with a few percentage points of airdrop calculation, it directly injected several hundred million dollars worth of chips into the market. Of course, many people sold at a loss, with the initial surge reaching nearly 20 times, greatly exceeding market expectations. As for why many people sold at a loss, those who have used Aster's products know well: it is not worth that price. But the market's valuation system has been reshaped, and the price has soared to such an outrageous degree that I can only say to respect the market. Even if you didn't get on this ride, don't short it.
To be honest, seeing such opportunities for sudden wealth, I can't help but feel a bit anxious, especially since I had the chance to seize it. I thought carefully these past few days, and it was within my expectations that the Perp track would heat up. To put it boldly, I predicted a few years ago during the bear market that this sector would explode, which is also why I participated in HypeLiquid before. However, this factor alone cannot constitute the basic condition for participating in Aster; there is one crucial element, which is to trust Binance and trust CZ.
Trusting Binance and CZ, the largest beneficiary group currently is the long-term holders of BNB, and the second-largest beneficiary group is those who participated in projects personally developed by Binance. In the previous round of DeFi products, ultra-high returns were achieved on tokens like cake, xvs, and similarly for this Aster. Before HyperLiquid exploded, Binance had always regarded on-chain as an important strategic direction, whether it was the Web3 wallet entrance or investments in Perp projects. Of course, to achieve this, a certain level of filtering ability is required. In simple terms, you need to be clear that Aster is a positioning-level product for Binance in the Perp track. This information can be obtained through various means, for example, in the seed round of Aster in November 2024, the only disclosed institutional investor was Binance Lab, which was also the only financing party. Additionally, CZ tweeted a few months ago stating that he had used Aster.
The track + product is, in my opinion, the best combination formula for exploring potential projects. To simplify it a bit more, it's track + capital, and to narrow it down further, track + Binance. The track requires strategic vision, while capital requires one's own information mining ability. Of course, whether or not it can succeed ultimately depends on timing. Just like I predicted a few years ago that the Perp track would explode, but after so long, the product form has iterated several times. For this time, Aster has basically met all the above conditions to succeed. For me, I didn't realize that Aster was a product personally developed by Binance. After using the product, the rather average experience made me give up. I wouldn't say I regret it, but it's worth reflecting on, after all, products can be optimized and upgraded, and this is something Binance excels at. As for other Perp products, I haven't experienced them in detail yet. Currently, the more popular ones are edgeX, StandX, GRVT, etc. I will share my thoughts based on my experiences later.
The above is my reflection and insights this time, let's encourage each other.
