Donald Trump Jr. Proclaims ‘Winning’ After Aster DEX Replaces Tether With USD1 For To Launch Gold, Silver, Oil Perpetual Futures

• Aster will exclusively be using USD1 to settle the perpetual futures, not Tether or USDC.
• The partnership positions USD1 as a base layer for tokenized real-world assets within the Aster ecosystem.
• Competition among perpetual DEX platforms is intensifying, with Hyperliquid currently leading in trading volume.

Aster (ASTER) announced on Monday that it is teaming up with World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to launch a new suite of perpetual futures tied to commodities, including gold, silver, and crude oil, with all contracts settled using the USD1 stablecoin.

The company said the initial rollout will include markets tracking West Texas Intermediate crude, Brent crude, gold, and silver, listed under USD1-denominated pairs. It added that additional markets could follow in the coming days.

“This is what winning looks like,” cofounder Donald Trump Jr. said in a post on X, adding that the platform will exclusively use USD1 for settlement rather than Tether (USDT). 

ASTER’s price edged 0.7% higher in the last 24 hours to $0.67, underperforming the broader cryptocurrency rally. Retail sentiment around the altcoin on Stocktwits trended in ‘neutral’ territory amid ‘low’ levels of chatter. Meanwhile, WLFI’s price moved nearly 3% higher in the last 24 hours to $0.10. Retail sentiment trended in ‘bullish’ territory with chatter at ‘high’ levels.

Aster, WLFI Push USD1 Into Commodities Trading

World Liberty Financial said USD1 is being positioned as a base layer for tokenized real-world assets on Aster, with commodities trading serving as an early use case. The companies said the integration is part of a broader effort to align their ecosystems and explore deeper token interoperability.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the USD1 stablecoin improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ territory over the past day, while retail sentiment around Tether fell to ‘bearish’ from the ‘bullish’ zone.

The new markets will launch with a maker-taker fee model designed to incentivize participation. Aster said taker fees will be set at 1 basis point, while makers will receive a rebate of 0.5 basis points. The company noted that the structure may be adjusted over time.

Additional incentive programs could also be introduced, though the company did not share a timeline.

The Perp DEX Wars Heat Up

The launch comes as other decentralized exchanges have also expanded their offerings to include perpetual trading of real world assets following the boom in trading volume for Hyperliquidi (HYPE). The platform saw roughly $1.5 billion in trades on the weekend when the U.S.-Iran war kicked off, followed by another $1.3 billion in volume the following weekend.

According to data on DeFiLlama, Hyperliquid currently leads in trading volume with over $200 billion reported volume over the last 30 days, followed by edgeX (EDGE) at $76 billion and Aster (ASTER) at $74 billion. Aster offers higher leverage of up to 1001x. The three are considered to be the primary contenders of the “perp DEX wars.”

However, it’s not just decentralized exchanges looking to capitalize on the trend. Coinbase (COIN), which launched perpetual futures in March, offers 10x leverage on single stocks like Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA) as well as 20x leverage for contracts on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Nasdaq-100 Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

Last week, Telegram also announced that it would allow its users to trade more than 50 assets including commodities and stocks through its native wallet. 

Read also: Bitcoin Nears $70K On US-Iran Ceasefire Talks, $270 Million Shorts Wiped Out

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