Has anyone looked into Aster? Cross-chain DEX + Perps with yield collateral. Aiming to overtake Hyperliquid

I’ve been digging into a project called Aster, a next-gen decentralized exchange that combines both Spot and Perpetual trading. Thought I’d share what I found and see what others think.

What it is:

• On-chain hub for global traders
• “Simple Mode” for one-click, MEV-free trades
• “Pro Mode” with hidden orders, grid trading, and even 24/7 stock perps
• Collateral can be liquid staking tokens (like asBNB) or yield-bearing stablecoins (USDF), which seems pretty efficient
• Runs on its own chain (“Aster Chain”), focused on high performance and privacy

Key Stats (from CMC):

• Price: ~$1.35
• Market Cap: ~$2.2B
• Supply: ~1.65B circulating / 8B total
• 24h Volume: ~$1.2B (seems like strong activity already)

What I like:

• Combo of DEX + perps across multiple chains (BNB, ETH, Solana, Arbitrum)
• Collateral innovation (staking tokens + stablecoins that earn yield)
• Both beginner-friendly + advanced features

Risks / questions:

• L1 chains are hard to sustain — adoption and security matter
• Regulatory risk (perps/derivatives)
• Competition with dYdX, GMX, etc.
• Token unlock schedule could be important to track

My take:
Feels like a promising but risky moonshot. If they deliver adoption across chains, upside could be big. But it’s still early and competitive.

Has anyone here used it yet? Curious how it stacks up vs dYdX/GMX.

(If anyone’s planning to try it, here’s my signup code: 47Gc3i — we both get rewards. Not financial advice, do your own research.)

Link to sign-up: https://www.asterdex.com/en/referral/47Gc3i