DefiLlama Delists Aster Metrics Over Binance-Wash Trading Links

- DefiLlama removed Aster’s perpetual trading volume metrics from its platform. - Founder highlights suspicious volume mirroring with Binance. On October 6, 2025, The Block reported that DefiLlama, a prominent Web3 data platform, delisted perpetual trading volume metrics for the decentralized exchange Aster due to concerns about potential wash trading. DefiLlama’s founder, 0xngmi, pointed to unusual correlations between trading volumes on Aster and Binance, one of the largest centralized exchanges. These suspicious patterns, which reportedly began over the weekend, prompted scrutiny of Aster’s trading activity. Wash trading is a practice that artificially inflates trading volume, creating a false appearance of activity that can mislead investors and users. 0xngmi presented data suggesting a significant overlap between Aster’s reported volumes and Binance’s activity. In response, Aster could not provide detailed data to counter these claims, which led DefiLlama to proceed with the delisting. The delisting had an immediate market impact, as Aster’s native token, ASTER, dropped in price by approximately 10%. This decline underscored growing doubts about the platform’s reported trading volumes and overall transparency. Previously, Aster had established itself as a significant competitor to Hyperliquid, with DefiLlama's tracking placing it among the top perpetual decentralized exchanges for daily fees and volumes. The platform also lists Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as an advisor, though there is no indication of his involvement in the current issues. According to CoinMarketCap, as of 00:09 UTC on October 6, Aster (ASTER) was priced at $1.881, while its 24-hour trading volume showed a 7.128% decrease.