Aster Chain Launches Mainnet Amid Declining Trading Volume

Aster Chain, a decentralized perpetual exchange, has introduced its mainnet, a purpose-built layer-1 blockchain for derivatives trading. The rollout follows a phased structure, with Chain Genesis now live and public staking for ASTER token holders set to begin later this week.

The new network boasts impressive features, including support for 100,000 transactions per second, 50-millisecond block times, and no gas fees. Additionally, Aster Chain offers default privacy through one-time stealth addresses and zero-knowledge proofs.

Despite the launch of its mainnet, trading volume on Aster has declined substantially since its peak in October 2025. According to DefiLlama, weekly perpetual trading volume dropped from $76.6 billion to around $18 billion, a contraction of over 76%. Total value locked (TVL) has also decreased from over $2 billion to approximately $949 million at press time.