Coinbase has added the Aster token, native to a decentralized exchange built on the BNB Chain, alongside Monad and QCAD, to its official roadmap for potential asset listings. 

The announcement was made late Friday, although the publicly listed crypto company insisted that inclusion on its roadmap does not guarantee listing.

“This is not an exhaustive list of all assets which we have decided to list,” the company wrote in an accompanying statement. “Trading for assets will only be launched once there is market-making support and sufficient technical infrastructure in place. We will announce the launch of trading on X once these conditions are met.”

Aster gains Coinbase recognition after weeks of Binance trading

Aster is a decentralized exchange for both perpetual and spot trading, with MEV-free execution on its Simple Mode, and additional features like hidden orders, grid trading, and stock perpetuals for the pro traders. The DEX operates on several blockchain networks, including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum. 

According to data from aggregator DeFiLlama, Aster has processed more than $12.9 billion in cumulative trading volume since inception. Over the past 30 days, the platform registered $5.46 billion in total volume and $325.6 million within the last 24 hours. 

Its perpetual futures side is attracting the most liquidity from the whole network, with $73.3 billion traded in the past week and $10.8 billion in the most recent 24-hour period.

The Aster token was promoted by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who disclosed last Sunday that he had personally purchased the token. In a post on X, CZ said he used his own money to buy $2 million worth of Aster on Binance, telling his followers he is “not a trader” but a “long-term holder.” 

“I am sure ASTER will surprise many in the coming days. Remember it is trading at more than 50% discount from the recent ATH. ASTER is the only coin CZ bought with his own money besides BTC BNB. There is a hint there,” reckoned one crypto trader on X, adamant the token’s price will rise again in the coming weeks. 

CZ’s disclosure caused Aster’s price to surge by nearly 35%, climbing from $0.91 to a peak of $1.26 before settling near $1.22 by Tuesday. Cryptopolitan reported that its market capitalization jumped from about $1.8 billion to more than $2.5 billion, while daily trading volume expanded from $224 million to above $2 billion.

The DEX token has since shed most of the profits it counted in the “CZ-rally,” dropping below the $1 price range on Wednesday, before retracing its steps back to $1.04 by Saturday. At the time of this reporting, Aster was 6% above its weekly lows, but down 56.7% below its all-time high price of $2.42, reached during its first week of trading.

Over the past two months, the Binance founder has referenced the project on several occasions, beginning with a congratulatory post on September 17 celebrating its launch. “Well done. Good start. Keep building,” he wrote at the time.

He followed up on September 29 with another post comparing Aster’s fee structure to that of its competitors, saying the exchange had “lower fees, higher volume,” which appeared to be a jab at leverage trading DEX Hyperliquid. 

Listing prospects after Coinbase review

While Coinbase has yet to specify a date for Aster’s official listing, the inclusion process precedes an extensive evaluation phase of legal reviews, technical audits, and liquidity assessments.

Coinbase’s roadmap updates tend to influence market sentiment, as traders interpret a token’s mention in Coinbase roadmap updates “a guaranteed” listing. But the company has repeatedly stressed that roadmap inclusion is not confirmation of approval. 

When Coinbase announced support for Celo in September 2020, the token’s price jumped by roughly 32% from about $3.44 to $4.55 within two hours. Moreover, after the exchange confirmed it would list FLOKI, the token’s volume jumped nearly 100%, and the price rose approximately 15% in the following 24 hours.

“If we haven’t yet listed a popular asset, it is likely due to various reasons including compliance or integration requirements,” Coinbase said in its statement.

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