Aster News Today: Aster's Airdrop Delay Sparks DeFi Trust Crisis

Aster, the YZi Labs-backed decentralized exchange (DEX) specializing in perpetual futures, has delayed its Stage 2 airdrop to October 20, citing "potential data inconsistencies" in user token allocations. The rescheduling follows widespread user complaints about unexpectedly low ASTER token distributions, with some participants reporting discrepancies as high as 90% compared to their expected rewards. The airdrop, initially set for October 14, affects 153,932 qualified wallets.

The delay emerged hours after Aster launched its "S2 airdrop checker," which revealed allocation errors for active users. One X user highlighted a $9 million trading volume yielding only 336 ASTER tokens, while others noted peers with lower activity receiving larger shares. Aster responded by acknowledging the inconsistencies and stating most users' allocations would not fall below their final snapshot holding percentages in each reward epoch. The platform also introduced a 48-hour USDT refund window post-airdrop for affected users.

Aster's native token, ASTER, has traded near $1.75, with a market capitalization of $3 billion, placing it as the 54th-largest cryptocurrency. Despite the delay, the token's price has remained stable, though market analysts on Polymarket estimate an 85% likelihood it will not reach $4 by November. The airdrop delay coincides with broader scrutiny of Aster's data practices, including a recent decision by analytics firm DefiLlama to delist Aster's perpetual trading volumes due to suspicious correlations with Binance's data.

Aster's challenges extend beyond the airdrop. The DEX faced a separate crisis in late September when a misconfigured XPL perpetual market caused a price spike to $4 (from $1.30 on other platforms), triggering liquidations and losses for traders. Aster reimbursed affected users in USDT and later distributed additional compensation for trading fees. The incident, coupled with the airdrop delay, has sparked debates about transparency in decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), a YZi Labs advisor, engaged with critics on social media, including influencer Quinten 048.eth, who accused Aster of favoring insiders in airdrop allocations. CZ requested verification of the data, while Quinten argued the reward formula disproportionately prioritized referral points over trading or staking activity. Aster has not disclosed the root cause of the data inconsistencies but emphasized its commitment to "fair and transparent" distribution.

The airdrop delay underscores the complexities of managing large-scale token distributions in the DeFi space. Aster, which competes with Hyperliquid in perpetual futures trading, has seen explosive growth, reporting $420 billion in trading volume last month. However, the recent controversies highlight the need for rigorous data validation to maintain user trust. As the rescheduled airdrop approaches, Aster's ability to address these issues will be critical to its long-term credibility.

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Source: [1] Aster Airdrop Delayed Due to 'Data Inconsistencies' With Token ... (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aster-airdrop-delayed-due-data-202455708.html)

[2] Aster Delays Stage 2 Airdrop to October 20 Due to Data (https://coincentral.com/aster-delays-stage-2-airdrop-to-october-20-due-to-data-inconsistencies/)

[3] ASTER Airdrop Delayed to October 20 Amid Criticisms Over Token ... (https://coingape.com/aster-delays-aster-airdrop-to-october-20-amid-criticism/)

[4] Aster delays stage 2 airdrop over data inconsistencies (https://www.cryptopolitan.com/aster-delays-stage-2-airdrop/)

[5] Aster Airdrop Postponed to October 20 - altcryptotalk.com (https://altcryptotalk.com/article/news/aster-airdrop-postponed-to-october-20/)

[6] DefiLlama Suspends Reporting of Aster Volumes Amid ... (https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/10/06/defillama-suspends-reporting-of-aster-volumes-amid-doubts-over-data-integrity/)

[7] DefiLlama Delisting Aster Perpetual Futures Volume Data (https://cointelegraph.com/news/defillama-delist-aster-perp-data-integrity)

[8] DeFiLlama Halts Astar Data Amid Wash Trading Scandal, Rocking ... (https://markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/article/breakingcrypto-2025-10-7-defillama-halts-astar-data-amid-wash-trading-scandal-rocking-defi-transparency)

[9] DefiLlama Delists Aster's Perpetual Data Over Integrity Issues (https://coinpedia.org/crypto-live-news/defillama-delists-asters-perpetual-data-over-integrity-issues/)

[10] Aster Faces Volatility as Binance Listing Collides With DeFiLlama ... (https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/finance/aster-faces-volatility-as-binance-listing-collides-with-defillama-data-suspension/)

[11] Aster Reimburses Users After XPL Perp Glitch - Cointelegraph (https://cointelegraph.com/news/aster-xpl-perp-glitch-reimbursements-perp-dex-volumes-104b)