Aster Chain Goes Live: Privacy-First L1 Blockchain Targets Perp-DEX Market With 100,000 TPS

YZi Labs-backed project Aster has launched the mainnet of Aster Chain, a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain designed for perpetual futures trading. The network combines zero-knowledge cryptography with stealth address mechanisms, aiming to match centralized exchange performance while preserving on-chain privacy.

«As the lotus lives in water, where no trace will remain. Leave nothing behind. Trade on Aster Chain.» — Aster 🥷 (@Aster_DEX), original post

Claimed Throughput: 100,000 TPS

According to the development team, Aster Chain produces blocks every 50 milliseconds and achieves a throughput of 100,000 transactions per second — all with zero transaction fees. For comparison, Solana's theoretical maximum stands at 65,000 TPS with a block time of 0.39 seconds.

These figures remain developer claims at this stage, and real-world stress testing will determine whether Aster Chain can sustain such performance under actual market conditions.

Why This Matters

Decentralized perpetual exchanges face a fundamental tension: they need the speed of centralized platforms but operate in a fully transparent environment where every order is visible. This transparency exposes traders to front-running, sandwich attacks, and behavioral tracking. Aster Chain attempts to address both bottlenecks simultaneously by embedding privacy at the execution layer rather than treating it as an add-on feature.

The developers specifically identified this challenge, stating that transparency between the protocol and its users is a fundamental property, but openness to competitors represents a critical vulnerability.

ZK-Verified Privacy by Default

Account privacy on Aster Chain is enabled by default. Every trading order is encrypted using zero-knowledge proof verification, and all transactions route through one-time stealth addresses. This architecture makes it impossible to link a wallet to specific trades.

«Every order is ZK-verifiable encrypted and every transaction routes through a one-time stealth address. Put it another way: there's no way to link your wallet to your trades. No one can trace, correlate, or reconstruct your trading behavior.» — Aster 🥷 (@Aster_DEX), original post

The system is not entirely opaque, however. Users can selectively disclose information through a "Viewer Pass" — a key that decrypts on-chain data exclusively for parties the account owner has authorized. This enables auditing and compliance verification without compromising privacy from other market participants.

Competitive Landscape in Perp-DEX

Despite a broader decline in on-chain derivatives volume since late last year, Aster remains among the more active perpetual DEX platforms. Its trading volume is comparable to Lighter and EdgeX, though it trails significantly behind the segment leader Hyperliquid.

Hyperliquid, meanwhile, has been experiencing a surge in oil contract trading driven by escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Token Reaction and Roadmap

The ASTER token initially rallied 8% following the mainnet announcement, but the gains proved short-lived — the asset retraced, erasing its entire daily increase. At the time of the original report, ASTER was trading around $0.73, ranking 47th by market capitalization on CoinGecko.

At launch, Aster Chain supports cross-chain deposits between Solana and EVM-compatible networks including BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Ethereum. The team plans to activate staking in the coming days and expand developer programs, including the Aster Code initiative.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has previously predicted that price discovery for major US equities could migrate from traditional venues to on-chain platforms, with markets increasingly relying on perpetual contract charts.