Supported by YZi Labs, Aster, a transaction ecosystem focused on privacy protection, today announced the official launch of the Aster Chain mainnet. This Layer 1 blockchain designed for transactions aims to break the "transparency trap" of modern decentralized finance, providing institutional-level privacy protection and performance comparable to centralized exchanges for professional and retail traders worldwide.

Ending the Era of "Position Sniping" on Chain

Transparency is one of the core advantages of DeFi: public ledgers, verifiable transactions, and open protocols. However, the transparency "between protocols and users" is entirely different from the transparency "between traders and competitors." When every order, position size, and liquidation price is public to the market, this information can be exploited against traders.

Position hunting refers to traders identifying large positions and their liquidation prices, collaborating to trigger forced liquidations, resulting in losses of millions of dollars for traders 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 fully transparent platform; other traders quickly initiated a collective effort on Twitter (now X) to target that position.

The default privacy mechanism of Aster completely eliminates this attack vector.

Aster's Core Argument: Privacy is a Fundamental Right

Unlike existing solutions that regard privacy as an "optional feature" or a "third-party wrapper," Aster Chain embeds cryptographic technology directly into the execution layer. On Aster, privacy is the default option, not a privilege.

The Aster privacy stack employs a zero-knowledge verifiable cryptographic architecture: ● Zero-knowledge verifiable encryption + stealth address mechanism: every order is subjected to zero-knowledge verifiable encryption before being recorded on chain; after enabling account privacy, orders will be routed through unique stealth addresses, ensuring there is no association between the user's wallet and trading activity, while preventing any third party from tracking, associating, or reconstructing transactions.

● Selective disclosure: although asset transfers can still be traced to meet compliance requirements, the execution layer protects the user's strategic intentions. Users who wish to make their activities public can choose to disclose their trading information. After enabling account privacy, users can generate a "Viewer Pass" to share with specific parties, allowing only those holding the pass to view their private orders.

● No performance compromise: The Aster chain achieves peak throughput of over 100,000 TPS, with a median block time of 50ms, and does not require payment of gas fees—performance comparable to the speed expected of centralized exchanges by traders.

Leonard, the CEO of Aster, stated: "The transparency between protocols and users is a fundamental characteristic, but the transparency between traders and competitors is a serious vulnerability. Aster Chain is the only architecture that treats privacy as a fundamental need for fair markets, neutralizing predatory attacks from the ground up."

The Speed of CEX Meets the Principles of DEX

Aster Chain provides sub-second transaction finality and a high-leverage experience, while adhering to the core principles of decentralization: self-custody, verifiability, and permissionless access. The realization of trading privacy eliminates the last reason for users to remain on centralized exchanges. The network currently supports a native cross-chain bridge connecting to BNB Chain and ensures high-accuracy price data through proprietary oracles.

Driving the Next Wave of Innovation

The launch of the mainnet marks the beginning of a 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 the Aster Chain staking program within a week to reward early supporters and liquidity providers.

About Aster

Aster is a privacy-first on-chain trading platform supported by YZi Labs, featuring innovative functionalities like "Hidden Orders" to protect users' trading activities. It offers perpetual contracts covering cryptocurrency, stocks, and commodity markets, as well as cryptocurrency spot trading. Aster is powered by Aster Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain built for the future of decentralized finance.

For more information, please visit the official Aster website or follow Aster on X.