Aster Token Soars Following CZ’s Disclosure of $2.5M Personal Investment

The Aster token, associated with a decentralized exchange protocol, experienced a significant surge of over 30% on Sunday after Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder of Binance, revealed his personal investment of over $2.5 million in Aster. This disclosure led to a sharp increase in trading volume and market capitalization, underscoring CZ's influence in the cryptocurrency market.

Key Takeaways

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao discloses a $2.5 million investment in Aster, leading to a price spike.
Aster’s trading volume increased dramatically, surpassing $2 billion.
While some traders are optimistic, others are betting against the token by shorting it.

Aster token goes flying after CZ reveals $2.5M personal stake

Aster Token Price Surge

The Aster token, the native currency of a decentralized exchange protocol, saw its value increase more than 30% after Binance co-founder CZ announced he bought over $2.5 million worth of Aster. In a post on X, he revealed his holdings and mentioned that he made this purchase using his personal funds on Binance. “I am not a trader. I buy and hold,” he noted.

The token’s price jumped from $0.91 to a high of $1.26 on platforms like CoinGecko. At the time of this article’s publication, Aster was trading at approximately $1.22.

Source: Changpeng Zhao

Increased Trading Activity in Aster

Following CZ's announcement, Aster's trading volume surged from $224 million to over $2 billion, according to analytics platform DefiLlama. The token's market capitalization also saw a notable rise, increasing from $1.8 billion to over $2.5 billion.

A trader known as “Gold” shared on X that they opened a position in Aster after CZ's post, emphasizing that this was the first time CZ publicly announced purchasing a token outside of BNB. They stated, “CZ, the most influential figure in crypto and creator of the largest platform in crypto announced his purchase of ASTER with personal funds. That’s it. Don’t overthink it.”

Shortly after the price jump, CZ remarked, “damn, I was hoping to buy some more at low prices,” mentioning that he doesn’t frequently buy tokens, aside from Aster and BNB, which he has held for eight years.

Source: Gold

Short Positions Against Aster

However, not all market participants are optimistic about Aster's longevity. Two major traders are betting against the trend by shorting Aster, anticipating a price decline. One trader has amassed a short position totaling 42.97 million Aster tokens, valued at $52.8 million, with a liquidation threshold set at $2.

Source: Lookonchain

Another trader has entered a short position involving 15.3 million Aster tokens, worth $19.1 million, and a liquidation price of $2.1, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding Aster’s future.

CZ's Relationship with Aster

CZ expressed his support for Aster in September, suggesting the project was on the right track and encouraging the team to continue developing. There have been questions regarding the extent of CZ's connection to Aster; however, it is known that his family office, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), invested in Aster's predecessor, Astherus, last year. A merger of Astherus with the decentralized perpetuals protocol APX Finance led to the creation of Aster in late 2024.

In a statement to Cointelegraph last September, a representative from BNB Chain confirmed that Aster had backing from BNB Chain and YZi Labs, but did not clarify whether CZ was directly involved.

Related: Aster's quiet relisting on DefiLlama leaves 'big gaps' in data: Exec

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