What to Know
Aster DEX and WLFI have partnered to list the RAVE/USD1 pair, boosting rewards through Aster’s Rocket Launch Round 4.
Aster continues rapid expansion with zk tech integration and zero-fee stock perps.
WLFI faces a mix of growth and challenges, including U.S. regulatory delays and DAT-sector stress.
Aster DEX has announced a new partnership with World Liberty Finance (WLFI) to list the RAVE/USD1 pair on its platform. The new listing is part of Rocket Launch Round 4, where Aster is offering a 1.5x points boost for users trading RAVE/USD1 during Stage 4 Harvest. While the bonus is meant to support early activity, Aster reminded users with “NFA. DYOR,” encouraging them to make their own decisions.
Partnership in the Making
On December 2, Aster’s founder Leonard posted about meeting the WLFI team in Dubai, saying they had “an amazing time” exploring ideas around USD1 adoption. Shortly after, a community member replied to the post, pointing out that Leonard had announced the partnership live in Dubai, calling it “huge” news.
World Liberty Finance also confirmed the development. The team said USD1 availability continues to grow, and the new RAVE-USD1 pair on Aster will act as the main market for the RAVE token on the exchange. WLFI also said that trading activity on this pair will count toward points in WLFI’s upcoming rewards season, though they added clear disclaimers about risk and the possibility of reward program changes.
Aster’s Busy Month
Aster partnered with Brevis to integrate zk-proof technology into its system. This upgrade allows trade verification without revealing sensitive user data, helping reduce MEV risks, increase privacy, and enable faster processing.
Aster recently burned 8 million ASTER tokens, representing half of Season 4 buybacks. The other half goes to reward traders. Daily buybacks now consume up to $2.2 million per day of revenue. At the same time, one whale wallet accumulated 16 million ASTER, showing strong long-term confidence.
As of yesterday, Aster removed all fees on its stock perpetual trading products. Traders can now enter and exit positions on assets like Tesla, Amazon, Apple, and NVIDIA at zero cost. Makers even earn points, further boosting platform activity.
Despite big updates on the DEX front, ASTER’s price slipped 2.47% to $0.93 over the last 24 hours. The drop reflects a break below key support at $1.05 and post-buyback volatility. The next support lies near $0.88–$0.91, while a recovery above $0.97 would help repair the short-term trend. At the time of writing ASTER is trading at around $0.9359.
WLFI Market Update
A major story affecting WLFI is happening in the U.S. Senate. The GENIUS/CLARITY Acts, which aim to create clearer rules for crypto, have stalled. Some lawmakers raised concerns that WLFI’s governance tokens may have been sold to questionable actors and that profit structures involving the Trump family could create conflicts of interest.
Bloomberg reported that DAT companies saw a 43% median drop in 2025. Some firms linked to crypto treasuries collapsed even more severely; Greenlane Holdings fell 99%, and SharpLink Gaming dropped 86%. Several large DATs hold significant amounts of WLFI tokens. Trump-backed Alt5 Sigma reportedly holds more than $1 billion worth of WLFI. When DAT companies face liquidity pressure, they may be forced to sell assets, creating potential overhead supply for WLFI.
Interestingly, WLFI still managed a 13.98% gain over the last 60 days but faced some pressure in the last 24 hours, falling 2.7%. Still, WLFI maintains a bullish long-term structure as long as the $0.13 support area holds. At the time of writing, WLFI is trading at around $0.1486. While the project retains $4.19B AUM and active buybacks, as 3.8M WLFI were burned on December 9, macro factors dominate short-term pricing.
Conclusion
The Aster and WLFI partnership marks a big step for USD1 adoption and strengthens Aster’s push to expand its ecosystem quickly. Between zero-fee trading, ZK upgrades, heavy buybacks, and new token pairs, Aster is positioning itself as one of the fastest-moving exchanges in the market.
As both Aster and WLFI navigate volatile conditions, the question now is whether strong fundamentals and new partnerships can outweigh broader market uncertainty in the weeks ahead.
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