Aster Chain officially launches: defining a new era of on-chain privacy and transparency

Supported by YZi Labs, the privacy-focused trading ecosystem Aster today announced the official launch of the Aster Chain mainnet. This Layer 1 blockchain, designed specifically for trading, aims to break the “transparency trap” of modern decentralized finance, providing institutional-grade privacy protection and performance comparable to centralized exchanges for global professional and retail traders.

Ending the On-Chain “Position Sniping” Era

Transparency is one of DeFi’s core advantages: open ledgers, verifiable transactions, open protocols. However, the transparency between “protocol and users” is fundamentally different from that between “traders and competitors.” When every order, position size, and liquidation price is public, this information can be exploited against traders.

Position hunting—where traders identify large positions and their liquidation prices to trigger forced liquidations—has caused millions of dollars in losses on fully transparent platforms. The most famous case occurred in March 2025, when a trader opened a $375 million BTC 40x short position on a transparent platform; shortly after, other traders quickly coordinated on Twitter (now X) to fundraise and collectively sniped the position.

Aster’s default privacy mechanism completely eliminates this attack vector.

Aster’s Core Principle: Privacy Is a Fundamental Right

Unlike existing solutions that treat privacy as an “optional feature” or a “third-party layer,” Aster Chain embeds encryption technology directly into the execution layer. On Aster, privacy is the default, not a privilege.

Aster’s privacy stack uses a zero-knowledge proof cryptographic architecture:

● Zero-knowledge verifiable encryption + stealth address mechanism: Each order is encrypted with zero-knowledge proof before being on-chain; with account privacy enabled, orders are routed through unique stealth addresses, ensuring no link between user wallets and trading activity, while preventing third parties from tracking, linking, or reconstructing transactions.

● Selective disclosure: Although asset transfers can still be tracked to meet compliance requirements, the execution layer protects user strategy intentions. Users who wish to make activities public can choose to disclose trading information. After enabling account privacy, users can generate a “Viewer Pass” to share with specific parties; only those with the pass can view their private orders.

● Zero performance trade-offs: Aster Chain can achieve peak throughput of over 100,000 TPS, with a median block time of 50ms, and no gas fees—performance comparable to the speed expected from centralized exchanges.

Aster CEO Leonard stated, “Transparency between protocol and users is fundamental, but transparency between traders and competitors is a serious vulnerability. Aster Chain is the only architecture that treats privacy as a fundamental requirement for fair markets, neutralizing predatory attacks at the core.”

Speed Meets Principles of DEX

Aster Chain offers sub-second transaction finality and high leverage experience, while adhering to core decentralized principles: self-custody, verifiability, and permissionless access. The implementation of trading privacy removes the last reason users might stay on centralized exchanges. The network currently supports a native cross-chain bridge connecting to BNB Chain and uses proprietary oracles to ensure high-precision price data.

Driving the Next Wave of Innovation

The mainnet launch marks the beginning of phased expansion. In addition to the flagship Aster trading interface, the ecosystem is inviting developers to create dedicated vaults and collaborative DeFi products through Aster Code.

To coincide with this release, Aster will initiate a one-week staking program for Aster Chain to reward early supporters and liquidity providers.