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-level privacy protection and performance comparable to centralized exchanges for professional and retail traders worldwide.

Ending the Era of "Position Hunting" 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 fundamentally 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, which has caused traders to lose millions of dollars on fully transparent platforms. The most famous case occurred in March 2025, when a trader opened a $375 million BTC short position at 40x leverage on a fully transparent platform; subsequently, other traders quickly initiated fundraising on Twitter (now X) to collectively hunt that position.

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

Aster's Core Argument: Privacy is a Fundamental Right

Unlike existing solutions that treat privacy as an "optional feature" or "third-party encapsulation layer," 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; when account privacy is enabled, orders are routed through unique stealth addresses, ensuring no association between the user's wallet and trading activities, while preventing any third party from tracking, associating, or reconstructing transactions.
• Selective disclosure: Although asset transfers can still be tracked, the execution layer protects the user's strategic intentions. Users who wish to make their activities public can choose to disclose 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.
• Zero performance compromise: 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 speeds expected by traders on centralized exchanges.

Aster CEO Leonard stated, "Transparency between protocols and users is a fundamental feature, but transparency between traders and competitors is a serious vulnerability. Aster Chain is the only architecture that treats privacy as a fundamental market need, neutralizing predatory attacks from the ground up."

The Speed of CEX Meets the Principles of DEX

Aster Chain offers sub-second transaction finality and a high-leverage experience while adhering to core decentralized principles: 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-precision price data through proprietary oracles.

Driving the Next Wave of Innovation

The mainnet launch 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 launch 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 commodities markets, as well as cryptocurrency spot trading. Aster is powered by Aster Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain built for the future of decentralized finance.