Here’s another rewritten version with a tighter, more editorial crypto-news tone:
ASTER saw sharp two-way volatility as bullish protocol news collided with a hawkish Federal Reserve and broader weakness across crypto markets.
The decentralized perpetuals exchange’s native token surged more than 10% on Wednesday to 80 cents—its highest level since January—before reversing gains, according to CoinDesk data. The initial rally followed the announcement of a new tokenomics upgrade that directs 99% of daily platform fees into an automated buyback program, effectively using protocol revenue to repurchase ASTER from the market.
Tokens acquired through the mechanism are distributed to veASTER holders, a non-transferable governance asset obtained by locking ASTER. Holders receive fee revenue exposure, voting rights, and trading discounts on the Aster DEX.
Each buyback is matched by an equivalent burn from the protocol’s reserves, with bi-weekly reductions continuing until total supply is cut to 3 billion tokens, down from 7.82 billion currently.
The update marks a shift away from Aster’s earlier linear vesting model, which released tokens into circulation regardless of demand and was phased out earlier this year in January 2026.
The protocol said the redesign links token economics more directly to platform activity, with all distributions executed on-chain and without discretionary reserve management.
However, the rally proved short-lived. A more hawkish Federal Reserve move strengthened the U.S. dollar and weighed on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, triggering a broad pullback.
At the time of writing, ASTER traded near 68 cents, down about 5% on the day after giving back most of its earlier gains.
