Expert Highlights 7 Reasons Why ASTER Is Following the ‘Crime-Ponzi Playbook’
Aster (ASTER), a decentralized perpetuals change, has been making headlines with its surging buying and selling quantity and speedy worth development. It has even secured the high spot as the most trending coin on CoinGecko right this moment.
However, its rise has not been with out criticism, with one knowledgeable accusing the challenge of following a ‘crime-ponzi playbook.’
Is Aster (ASTER) a Scam?
The ASTER token had its token era occasion (TGE) this month, attracting early support from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Since its debut, it has posted impressive gains, climbing to an all-time high of $2.41 yesterday.
The Aster platform has emerged as one among the top six decentralized exchanges by buying and selling quantity, surpassing Hyperliquid.
Despite the spectacular development, not everyone seems to be satisfied of Aster’s potential. In an in depth submit on X (previously Twitter), Simon Dedic, founding father of Mooonrock Capital, outlined a number of causes for doubting Aster.
“ASTER is following the crime-ponzi playbook to perfection,” Dedic wrote.
Dedic’s evaluation identifies seven key steps he claims mirror the techniques of a Ponzi scheme. First, argued that Aster’s product is just not essentially new, however relatively a duplicate of current decentralized exchange models with confirmed market match.
Second, Dedic alleged that the challenge distributed a good portion of its token provide to influential Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and insider teams. This was accomplished to generate hype and safe purchase stress.
Third, Dedic urged that with the product itself providing little uniqueness, Aster depends on aggressive wash buying and selling to make the platform seem extra aggressive than it’s.
Fourth, Dedic says that the workforce launched the token, maintaining most of the provide with itself.
“Once consideration is secured, transfer to TGE. Launch the token whereas maintaining most of the provide, supplying you with management over promote stress. Pump the token laborious with coordinated market maker methods and the cabals you onboarded early,” he added.
The fifth step includes leveraging worth momentum to drive narrative and additional worth will increase. According to him, this can be a frequent tactic in crypto the place rising charts bolster legitimacy. Sixth, Dedic warned of an inevitable hype plateau, elevating questions on sustainability.
“Every Ponzi has a ceiling. Eventually the hype plateaus, curiosity fades, and the massive query turns into: what’s subsequent?” the govt famous.
Finally, he predicted that Aster might plan the launch of its own Layer 1 blockchain as a transfer to maintain curiosity, a method he deems pointless however efficient in extending the cycle.
Joshua Tobkin, Co-founder and CEO of Supra, helps this skepticism by asserting that Aster operates extra like a (*7*). This critique challenges the challenge’s decentralized credentials, a cornerstone of its attraction.
“Aster isn’t even a blockchain. At least there’s transparency in the matching engine on HyperLiquid so you realize the utility is following its guidelines. Aster seems actually to be a CEX,” Tobkin commented.
Despite these allegations, whales proceed to purchase ASTER. Lookonchain reported that an investor (0xFB3B) pulled 50 million ASTER value $114.5 million from Gate.io over the earlier two days.
Furthermore, the blockchain analytics agency highlighted that 15 wallets — doubtless managed by the identical whale — withdrew 68.25 million ASTER valued at round $156.3 million from the change simply 4 days in the past.
“Two whales lately collected 118.25 million ASTER ($270.8 million), 7.13% of the circulating provide,” the post learn.
Another whale, recognized as pockets 0x5bd4, withdrew 1.56 million ASTER (valued at $3.57 million) from Bybit. The deal with now holds 8.28 million ASTER, value roughly $16.98 million.
Thus, as the criticism piles up, whales stay undeterred. This divergence highlights the distinction between skeptics who see purple flags and deep-pocketed traders who seem assured — or opportunistic — in betting that momentum will outweigh considerations, a minimum of for now.
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