Key insights
The latest DEX wars have transitioned from token incentives to prioritizing speed, leverage, and a sustainable foundation.
Hyperliquid remains at the forefront with over $300 billion in monthly volume, strong liquidity, and increasing institutional interest.
Aster’s growth is fueled by airdrops, credibility backed by Binance, and leverage designed to attract professional traders.
Lighter is gaining traction due to its Ethereum layer-2 speed, zero-fee trading model, and unique points-based yield farming system.
Platforms like SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, and Curve utilized yield farming and governance token incentives to draw in liquidity, leading to rapid capital influx into the onchain space.
Initial struggles were centered around attracting total value locked (TVL) and traders through token incentives, rather than focusing on speed, leverage, or institutional-grade infrastructure. Ultimately, Uniswap emerged as the leader, establishing a playbook that included liquidity mining, airdrops, and tokenized participation, forming the basis for the current advanced DEX wars in perpetuals.
Inside the DEX liquidity conflict
Hyperliquid, constructed on its own high-performance blockchain, experienced significant growth in 2025. By mid-2025, the exchange managed over $300 billion in trading volume, with daily activity sometimes nearing $17 billion, bolstered by deep liquidity and rapid execution that attracted active traders.
A crucial factor in Hyperliquid’s success was its points-based rewards program, which boosted liquidity and user engagement and culminated in a significant airdrop.
In total, 27.5% of the token supply was allocated to 94,000 addresses, recognizing early and active traders. This initiative, intended to encourage trading, has become one of the most significant token distributions recently, valued at around $7 billion-$8 billion.
However, competitors are quickly closing the gap.
Aster, a rising DEX on the BNB Smart Chain, has established itself as a leading competitor to Hyperliquid, with reported daily trading volumes occasionally hitting tens of billions and at times exceeding Hyperliquid’s figures. The project’s affiliation with Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance’s co-founder, has garnered considerable market attention.
Simultaneously, Lighter, an exchange on an Ethereum rollup, has reported daily trading volumes above $8 billion.
Together, these emerging players are transforming what was once Hyperliquid’s solid advantage into a competitive landscape.
Calder White, chief technology officer of Vigil Labs—a Silicon Valley startup that recently secured $5.7 million to implement AI for understanding and trading cryptocurrency markets—describes the contrasting foundations of the platforms’ growth.
“Our analysis indicates that Aster’s expansion is heavily narrative-driven, with capital being recycled to boost trading volumes, while Hyperliquid attracts more organic participation from serious players. Both Aster and Lighter are employing the same points-to-airdrop strategy to enhance liquidity and activity, competing with Hyperliquid for market share,” stated White.
Aster’s ambitious approach to DEX leadership
Aster’s rise is attributed to its close connections with CZ, who advises the project, leading many to dub Aster “Binance’s DEX.” The exchange has introduced tokenized stocks, enabling users to trade major assets onchain with leverage of up to 1,000x. Additionally, it plans to launch its layer-1 blockchain.
This combination positions Aster as one of the most pioneering endeavors in DEX design to date.
Driving its ascent is Aster’s expansive airdrop initiative that rewards users for their trading activity. The second season allotted 320 million Aster tokens, valued at roughly $600 million, concluding on Oct. 5, 2025.
This incentive model has already resulted in impressive trading activity. Aster recently generated over $20 million in fees over 24 hours, securing its place among the leading revenue earners in decentralized finance (DeFi). There is growing speculation that the team may utilize a portion of those earnings for token buybacks, potentially increasing the token’s value and sustaining trader interest beyond the airdrop phase.
Participants have the opportunity to earn significant rewards, with potential earnings ranging from thousands to seven figures for top traders. The scale of these incentives has driven notable volumes, though it remains uncertain if trading will persist once the rewards diminish.
Airdrops and exclusivity accelerate Lighter’s growth
Lighter has quickly become notable for its technical innovations in DeFi. Built on a custom Ethereum layer-2 featuring zero-knowledge circuits, it aims for sub-five-millisecond matching latency, rivaling centralized exchanges (CEX). The platform offers zero trading fees for regular users, while institutional flows incur premium charges.
Lighter’s zero-fee structure and point system have incited trader interest. Since launching, trading volumes have surged, at times competing with Hyperliquid. Current speculation centers on expectations for an anticipated token launch, rumored to occur later this year.
Despite the absence of a token, there is already a vibrant over-the-counter market for Lighter points, with prices ranging from $39 to over $60, one trader reportedly spending $1 million at $41 each.
A logical method to assess a perpetual DEX’s value is by looking at open interest (OI), reflecting the total value of all open trades on the platform. Higher OI indicates more real money in play. Hyperliquid, for instance, maintains $13.2 billion in OI, supporting a market cap of about $15.2 billion.
Lighter holds approximately $2.1 billion in OI. If about 15%-20% of tokens are unlocked at launch, this would yield a market cap of around $1 billion-$1.1 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) near $5 billion-$5.5 billion. With about 12 million points linked to the initial allocation, each point would be valued at approximately $83 to $100.
If 15%-20% of the supply is designated for the community, the airdrop could represent an allocation worth $750 million-$1.1 billion for users—potentially one of the largest token distributions in DeFi since Hyperliquid’s drop.
Institutional liquidity joins the fray
A significant subplot in this competition is the gradual entrance of institutional liquidity. Funds that previously hesitated to engage with onchain derivatives, due to slippage, latency, or compliance issues, are now testing these platforms with initial capital.
Hyperliquid’s rapid, transparent design has piqued the interest of professional traders, while Aster’s Binance connection is resonating within Asian trading circles.
Lighter’s execution speed and onchain settlement model attract attention from prop-trading firms seeking yield without counterparty risks. The next phase of the DEX wars may hinge less on airdrops and more on which platforms provide reliable infrastructure for serious capital.
Infrastructure versus narrative: Long-term outcomes
As competition intensifies among Lighter, Aster, and Hyperliquid, Hyperliquid remains the benchmark in onchain derivatives, driven by unmatched open interest, high execution quality, and increasing institutional engagement.
Instead of slowing, the exchange is amplifying its efforts by introducing HIP-3, which enables anyone to launch a perp DEX on Hyperliquid’s infrastructure, launching its USDH stablecoin, and quickly listing perpetuals for competing tokens like ASTER to capture narrative-driven liquidity.
Hyperliquid has engaged its community through novel reward mechanisms. The Hypurr NFT collection, launched on Sep. 28, 2025, gained immediate popularity, with floor prices averaging around 1,200 HYPE (approximately $55,000 each). The strong demand has fueled speculation about future reward initiatives and potential updates to the points program.
According to White, this division among emerging DEXs highlights how far incentives can shift markets compared to the stabilizing influence of robust infrastructure.
“Hyperliquid is betting on execution and liquidity, while Aster and Lighter demonstrate the extent to which incentives can stretch the market,” he noted.
“The true challenge will be whether traders remain once the airdrop advantages fade.”
