The Rise of Aster and a Comprehensive Analysis of 7 Major On-chain Contract DEXs, Where is the Next 1,000x Opportunity?

In the grand waves of the cryptocurrency market, Aster's astonishing rise is undoubtedly one of the most captivating stories of 2025. Within just a few days, the price of the Aster Token skyrocketed from an Opening Price of $0.025 to $1.94, a staggering increase of 7660%, creating countless wealth legends. This phenomenon not only sparked a frenzy of interest in Aster in the market but also prompted investors to begin to follow: what other on-chain contract DEXs with great potential are worth laying out? This article will delve into the development history of Aster and reveal 7 on-chain contract DEX platforms worth following.

Aster: From Rebirth Through Fire to Market's New Favorite

· From ApolloX to Aster: The Transformative Journey of Rebirth

The story of Aster began in 2021 when it entered the market under the name ApolloX, focusing on DeFi derivative trading services. In the CEX public chain ecosystem, ApolloX quickly attracted a large number of risk-seeking investors with leverage rates of up to 100 times.

However, on June 8, 2022, ApolloX encountered a serious security vulnerability attack. The attackers exploited a flaw in the signature system to generate 255 signatures, stealing approximately 1.6 million dollars worth of APX Tokens from the contract. This incident led to a collapse of user confidence and a significant decrease in platform activity.

"Security incidents are often fatal for crypto projects," said cryptocurrency analyst Michael Chen. "But the ApolloX team has shown rare resilience and adaptability."

In the face of the crisis, the team did not give up, but instead launched the brand new V2 version in 2023. The new version not only raised the maximum leverage to 250 times, but under certain degen modes, it can even reach up to 1001 times, while achieving zero slippage and zero opening fees, providing an ideal platform for those pursuing the ultimate trading experience.

· Strategic Merger and Brand Rebuilding: The Birth of Aster

In November 2024, CEX announced an investment in the multi-asset liquidity center Astherus. As a platform focused on providing practical yield maximization solutions for Crypto Assets, Astherus's flagship product AstherusEarn combines institutional-grade security while offering high-yield strategies across multiple blockchains and protocols.

At the end of 2024, ApolloX and Astherus will achieve a strategic merger and officially rename themselves as Aster. This merger not only integrates the technological advantages and user bases of the two platforms but also injects new development momentum into Aster.

"This is a perfect synergy," commented DeFi researcher Sarah Wong. "ApolloX brings expertise in derivatives trading, while Astherus provides the ability for multi-asset liquidity management. The merged Aster will be able to offer users a more comprehensive DeFi service."

· Explosive Growth and Future Challenges

On September 17, 2025, Aster officially launched its Token with an Opening Price of 0.025 USD. In the following days, the price skyrocketed to a historic high of 1.94 USD, with an astonishing pump. As of the time of writing, Aster is quoted at 1.51 USD, maintaining a strong market performance.

Currently, there are rumors in the market that on October 1st, Aster will become one of the newly launched spot trading platforms on CEX. If the news is true, Aster will have the opportunity to interact deeply with CEX and its 280 million users, which will undoubtedly bring it a broader space for development.

However, it is worth noting that the Aster team wallet currently holds 95.77% of the tokens, and this highly centralized token distribution has raised market concerns about its future price stability.

"The high concentration of tokens in the hands of the team is a double-edged sword," cryptocurrency advisor David Lee pointed out. "On one hand, it indicates that the team has long-term confidence in the project; on the other hand, it also brings potential sell-off risks and governance centralization issues."

· on-chain contract DEX: The next investment trend

On-chain contract DEX specifically refers to a decentralized exchange that is centered around "on-chain smart contracts" to achieve the full process of transaction matching, asset settlement, margin management, etc. Its core feature is that "transaction logic is fully on-chain" — from user order placement, order matching to fund transfer, all are automatically executed through smart contracts on the blockchain, without relying on any off-chain servers or centralized intermediaries, and all transaction records can be queried in real-time on the blockchain browser, providing extremely high transparency.

7 On-chain Contract DEX Platforms to Follow

1. Hyperliquid: The Rise of the "CEX Killer"

Core advantages: self-developed Layer 1 blockchain, sub-second transaction confirmation, full on-chain order book

Hyperliquid is a high-performance DeFi platform focused on providing a full on-chain order book trading experience. Its core product is a decentralized perpetual futures and spot trading platform, running on the self-developed Layer 1 blockchain Hyperliquid L1.

Since its launch in 2023, it has been recognized as the "CEX killer" in just two years. Recently, Hyperliquid's market share has rapidly increased, occupying 6.9% of the market share in August with a trading volume of 21.4 billion USD, which is a 129.3% increase compared to July, maintaining the fastest growth rate. Currently, Hyperliquid ranks 6th among global derivatives exchanges.

The HYPE Token soared from $3.9 to $27 after the TGE in November 2024, reaching a peak of $35.2. On September 19 of this year, HYPE hit an all-time high of $58.53, and as of the time of writing, it is reported at $48.94.

"The success of Hyperliquid lies in its ability to address the core pain points of DeFi trading: speed and user experience," said blockchain architect Robert Chen. "It proves that decentralized exchanges can offer a trading experience comparable to that of centralized exchanges."

2. dYdX: The Pioneer of Decentralized Futures Trading

Core advantages: independent Layer 1 blockchain, mature order book system, rich trading pairs

dYdX was founded by software engineer Antonio Juliano in 2017 and is one of the earliest decentralized futures exchanges to establish and launch usable products. As an order book DEX, dYdX allows for peer-to-peer trading between traders, with a three-party game involving market makers and both long and short traders.

dYdX operates as an independent Layer 1 blockchain based on Cosmos SDK and CometBFT consensus, featuring a decentralized order book and matching engine. This architecture ensures high scalability, low latency, and complete transparency for traders.

Currently, dYdX ranks 48th in the "Top Derivatives Exchanges by Open Interest and Trading Volume" list, with a 24-hour trading volume of 192 million USD. Since breaking through 4 USD in May 2024, the price of dYdX Token has retraced, reporting at 0.63 USD as of the time of writing.

"As a pioneer in decentralized derivatives trading, dYdX has the first-mover advantage and a mature technical architecture," commented DeFi strategist Jennifer Liu. "Although the recent performance of the Token is not as good as emerging competitors, its stable trading volume and user base should not be overlooked."

3. Orderly Network: The Star Project of the NEAR Ecosystem

Core advantages: three-layer architecture design, support for NEAR and WOO Network, cross-chain compatibility

Orderly Network was jointly incubated and launched by NEAR and WOO Network in April 2022, completing the asset trading process through a three-layer architecture consisting of asset layer, engine layer, and settlement layer. According to data released by unfolded, in the past 30 days, the perpetual contract trading volume processed by Orderly on-chain has exceeded that of the Arbitrum chain.

The token ORDER of Orderly once reached a high of 0.35 USD, and as of the time of writing, it is reported at 0.2665 USD.

"The three-layer architecture design of Orderly Network is its unique advantage," blockchain analyst Michael Wong stated. "This design not only improves transaction efficiency but also enhances the system's security and scalability."

4. KiloEx: A New Star in the Large CEX Ecosystem

Core advantages: Large CEX laboratory incubation, multi-asset type support

KiloEx is a DEX built on the CEX public chain, incubated and invested by a large CEX laboratory. Unlike other platforms, the asset types supported by KiloEx include not only crypto assets but also traditional financial assets such as foreign exchange and stocks.

On March 27 this year, CEX announced that KiloEx (KILO) will hold an exclusive TGE event in the CEX wallet. The next day, KILO broke through $0.12, and as of the time of writing, it is reported at $0.043.

"The CEX background of KiloEx is its greatest advantage," crypto market analyst Alex Thompson pointed out. "The user base and ecosystem resources of CEX can provide strong growth momentum for KiloEx."

5. Avantis: The leader in derivatives on the Base platform

Core Advantages: High Leverage, Zero Slippage Trading, Real-World Asset Support

In February 2024, the Avantis mainnet was launched, and it has now become the largest derivatives exchange on the Base on-chain. Users can trade Crypto Assets and real-world assets with leverage of up to 100 times and earn profits by providing USDC liquidity as market makers.

The AVNT Token has recently maintained a continuous upward trend, reporting at 2.15 USD as of the time of writing.

"Avantis's leading position in the Base ecosystem gives it a unique market positioning," said DeFi researcher Sarah Wong. "With the continuous expansion of the Base ecosystem, Avantis is expected to attract more users and liquidity."

6. Lighter: Innovative Applications of ZK Technology

Core Advantages: ZK-rollup technology, verifiable matching engine, native market-making vault LLP

Lighter was first launched in 2023 as a spot DEX on Arbitrum, with founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski. In March 2024, Lighter transitioned to a zksync layer3 DEX, and in November of the same year, further transformed into a ZK Perp DEX, built on zk-rollup.

Lighter introduces a scalable, secure, transparent, non-custodial, and verifiable order book trading infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem. As an application-specific zk-rollup, Lighter employs advanced encryption technology and data structures, significantly enhancing the security and fairness of order book trading through its verifiable matching engine.

In terms of protocol mechanisms, Lighter has a native market-making treasury LLP similar to Hyperliquid HLP. LLP allows retail investors to inject funds into a public pool managed by professional traders, and profits are shared based on contribution ratios, currently also with no transaction fees.

"The application of ZK technology by Lighter is its biggest highlight," commented blockchain technology expert David Park. "ZK-rollup not only enhances transaction processing capabilities but also strengthens privacy protection and security, which is especially important in derivatives trading."

7. StandX: A Rising Star with CEX Team Background

Core Advantages: CEX team background, Solana high-performance infrastructure, automatic yield stablecoin DUSD

StandX is a DeFi project operating on Solana, with a strong team background. The CEO AG is the head of the CEX contract department, and Justin is the former CEX contract director, focusing on the development of perpetual contract exchanges and the stablecoin DUSD.

DUSD is an automated yield stablecoin launched by StandX, with the yield derived from the staking assets of StandX and the funding rates of the derivatives market. In the future, DUSD can also be used as margin for StandX's perpetual contract trading platform, allowing users to enjoy annualized returns while trading.

"The background of the CEX team at StandX and the high-performance foundation of Solana provide unique advantages," said cryptocurrency advisor Jennifer Zhang. "The automatic yield mechanism of DUSD is also an innovation that has the potential to attract stablecoin users."

Future Trends and Investment Opportunities of on-chain Contract DEX

With the continuous development of the DeFi ecosystem, on-chain contract DEX is becoming the focus of market attention. Here are a few trends worth investors' attention:

1. Technical Integration and Innovation

The integration of technologies such as ZK-rollup, Layer 2 scaling solutions, and cross-chain interoperability will bring more possibilities for on-chain contract DEX. In particular, the application of ZK technology can not only enhance transaction processing capacity but also improve privacy protection and security.

2. Multi-Asset Type Support

The future on-chain contract DEX will not be limited to crypto assets trading but will also support more asset types, including forex, commodities, stocks, and other traditional financial assets, providing users with a one-stop trading experience.

3. Introduction of Institutional-Level Liquidity

As the regulatory environment becomes clearer and infrastructure improves, institutional investors will increasingly participate in on-chain contract DEXs, bringing more ample liquidity and a more stable market environment.

4. Continuous Optimization of User Experience

Decentralized exchanges have always faced the challenge of user experience being inferior to centralized exchanges. In the future, on-chain contract DEX will place greater emphasis on user interface design, transaction speed, and cost optimization, narrowing the experience gap with centralized exchanges.

Conclusion: How to Seize Investment Opportunities in On-chain Contract DEX

Aster's success story proves that the on-chain contract DEX field contains huge investment opportunities. However, investors need to consider the following factors when entering this field:

Technical Foundation: Assessing the platform's technical architecture, security, and scalability

Team Background: Understand the team's experience, expertise, and industry resources.

User Growth: Follow the platform's user count, trading volume, and growth trends.

Token Economics: Analyzing the Distribution of Tokens, Inflation Mechanisms, and Value Capture Ability

Ecosystem Integration: Examining the integration level between the platform and the broader on-chain ecosystem.

"On-chain contract DEX represents the future development direction of DeFi," summarized crypto assets strategist Robert Chen. "With continuous technological advancements and increased user awareness, this field will welcome broader development space. Investors should follow closely but also cautiously assess risks."

Whether it's the astonishing rise of Aster or the steady development of other on-chain contract DEXs, it indicates the immense potential in this field. For visionary investors, now is the perfect time to gain in-depth understanding and make strategic layouts.