Aster Launches Rocket Program for Early-Stage Crypto Projects

Aster’s Rocket Launch represents a fundamental shift from one-time token launch events to an ongoing process of discovery, trading activation, and sustained growth. The initiative requires participants to hold $ASTER tokens to qualify for campaigns, then rewards them proportionally based on their trading volume across designated token pairs. This approach creates immediate trading activity for new projects while ensuring that the most engaged community members receive the greatest rewards.

The mechanism establishes what Aster describes as a ‘virtuous cycle’ among projects, the platform, and users. Projects joining Rocket Launch contribute both funds and their native tokens, which Aster uses to execute buybacks of $ASTER tokens. These repurchased tokens, combined with the contributed project tokens, form comprehensive reward pools distributed to users through trading activities. For long-term $ASTER holders, this represents more than mere investment—it’s direct engagement with on-chain innovation and early exposure to emerging opportunities.

Aster enters this new venture from a position of significant strength, boasting over 4.6 million users and demonstrating impressive market traction. The platform’s native token $ASTER achieved a remarkable $452 million in spot trading volume on its first trading day, indicating substantial market interest and liquidity depth. This established user base and trading activity provide an ideal launch environment for early-stage projects seeking sustainable user and revenue growth.

The platform’s unique position as one of the few decentralized exchanges offering both Spot and Perpetual markets gives Rocket Launch additional strategic advantage. By combining token listings with trading competitions across both market types, Aster creates multiple engagement points for different types of traders. Projects gain enhanced visibility and trading volume, traders access early opportunities with built-in rewards, and Aster strengthens its platform ecosystem through high-potential listings and increased trading activity.

Aster’s infrastructure spans major blockchain networks including BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum, featuring MEV-free execution and innovative trading modes. The platform’s ability to use liquid-staking tokens like asBNB or yield-generating stablecoins such as USDF as collateral provides unprecedented capital efficiency, further enhancing its appeal to sophisticated traders and project teams.

The inaugural Rocket Launch campaign features APRO, an AI-enhanced oracle delivering verifiable data across cutting-edge ecosystems including RWA (Real World Assets), AI, and DeFi. APRO supports over 1,400 data feeds across 40+ blockchains and is backed by prominent investors Polychain Capital, Franklin Templeton, and YZi Labs—the same firm backing Aster. This strategic alignment between platform and project demonstrates the careful curation behind Rocket Launch selections.

The APRO campaign, running from October 24 to November 6, 2025, features a substantial $200,000 reward pool in $ASTER tokens alongside additional rewards in APRO’s native $AT tokens. This dual-token reward structure ensures participants benefit both from Aster’s ecosystem growth and the potential success of the featured project, creating aligned incentives across the platform.

Leonard, CEO of Aster, emphasized the strategic vision behind Rocket Launch: ‘Aster is not just a platform where users execute trades, it’s where high quality assets can be efficiently priced. Rocket Launch brings market attention to promising trends faster, allowing projects to be recognized by the market and valued effectively through real trading activity.’ This statement underscores Aster’s ambition to become not just a trading venue but a price discovery mechanism for emerging crypto assets.

Aster’s leadership believes the next phase of DeFi growth will be defined by the ability to discover and capture early on-chain investment opportunities, moving beyond traditional metrics like fees, liquidity depth, and leverage. Rocket Launch embodies this vision by enabling professional traders to access emerging projects at their earliest stages while allowing quality teams to be discovered, traded, and validated by market activity.

The program’s structure reflects Aster’s commitment to building what it describes as a ‘sustainable and mutually beneficial ecosystem.’ Continuous $ASTER buybacks funded by project contributions create long-term value for token holders, while the trading reward mechanism ensures active participation and liquidity provision. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle where successful projects strengthen the Aster ecosystem, which in turn attracts more high-quality projects.

With backing from YZi Labs and a clear vision for the future of decentralized finance, Aster is positioning itself as a launch platform that provides comprehensive support for early-stage projects. By combining deep liquidity, an active trading community, and robust on-chain infrastructure with innovative programs like Rocket Launch, Aster is building what it describes as ‘the future of DeFi: fast, flexible, and community-first.’