Key takeaways
A new phase of DEX wars has transitioned from token incentives to an emphasis on speed, leverage, and sustainable infrastructure.
Hyperliquid remains at the forefront, boasting over $300 billion in monthly volume, robust liquidity, and increasing institutional interest.
Aster’s expansion is driven by airdrops, credible backing from Binance, and leverage that appeals to 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 attracted liquidity through yield farming and governance token incentives. This strategy ignited swift capital influx, bringing billions on-chain rapidly.
The initial competitions were centered on securing the highest total value locked (TVL) and attracting traders through token incentives rather than speed, leverage, or institutional-quality infrastructure. Ultimately, Uniswap emerged as the leader, establishing a playbook that included liquidity mining, airdrops, and tokenized participation, forming the basis for the more advanced decentralized exchange (DEX) wars now unfolding in perpetuals.
Inside the DEX liquidity wars
Hyperliquid, a DEX utilizing its own high-performance blockchain infrastructure, experienced significant growth in 2025. The exchange saw over $300 billion in trading volume by mid-2025, with daily activity frequently nearing $17 billion. Its substantial liquidity and rapid execution have garnered strong interest among active and professional traders.
One major factor behind Hyperliquid’s notable growth was its effective liquidity and user engagement initiatives, exemplified by its points-based rewards program, which culminated in a large airdrop.
A total of 27.5% of the token supply was allocated to 94,000 addresses, benefiting early and active participants. What began as a way to increase trading activity has evolved into one of the most significant token distributions in recent crypto history, now valued at approximately $7 billion to $8 billion.
However, competitors are quickly catching up.
Aster, a rapidly expanding DEX on the BNB Smart Chain, is emerging as a key competitor to Hyperliquid. On certain days, its trading volumes have surged into the tens of billions of dollars, sometimes exceeding Hyperliquid’s totals. The project’s affiliation with Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder of Binance, has also attracted considerable market attention.
Meanwhile, Lighter, a new exchange built on an Ethereum rollup, has reported daily trading volumes exceeding $8 billion.
These competitors are transforming what was once Hyperliquid’s undeniable advantage into a three-way battle for market share.
Calder White, chief technology officer of Vigil Labs—a Silicon Valley startup that recently secured $5.7 million to apply AI for understanding and trading cryptocurrency markets—notes that the recent growth has distinct drivers on different platforms.
“Our analysis indicates that Aster’s rise is primarily narrative-driven, with traders cycling capital to amplify volumes, while Hyperliquid is benefiting from the most organic flow from serious participants. Both Aster and Lighter are leveraging a points-to-airdrop strategy to cultivate liquidity and trading activity as they challenge Hyperliquid for market share,” said White.
Aster’s high-stakes play for DEX dominance
Aster’s surge is largely attributed to its close relationship with CZ, who now advises the project. His involvement has led many to label Aster as “Binance’s DEX.” The exchange has introduced tokenized stocks, permitting users to trade significant assets on-chain with up to 1,000x leverage. It also plans to introduce its own layer-1 blockchain.
This combination has positioned Aster as one of the most adventurous experiments in DEX design to date.
Boosting this trajectory is Aster’s extensive airdrop program, incentivizing users for driving trading activity. The second season distributed 320 million Aster tokens, valued at around $600 million, concluding on Oct. 5, 2025.
The incentive framework has translated into substantial activity. Aster recently generated over $20 million in fees within 24 hours, placing it among the top revenue-generating entities in decentralized finance (DeFi). There is increasing speculation that part of these earnings might be utilized for token buybacks. If this is true, such a strategy could further elevate Aster’s token value and maintain trader engagement beyond the airdrop era.
Some users stand to gain substantial rewards, ranging from thousands to potentially seven-figure sums for the most active traders. The magnitude of these incentives has driven robust trading volumes on the platform, although it remains uncertain if users will continue to trade as rewards diminish.
Airdrops and exclusivity drive Lighter’s rise
Lighter has rapidly positioned itself as one of the more technically advanced platforms in DeFi. Constructed on a custom Ethereum layer-2 utilizing zero-knowledge circuits, it achieves sub-five-millisecond matching latency, aiming to rival centralized exchange (CEX) speeds. The platform offers zero trading fees to retail users, whereas API and institutional users face premium rates.
Lighter has experienced significant growth through its Lighter Liquidity Pool (LLP) initiative, which has emerged as one of the most enticing yield options in DeFi. Currently, the pool provides around 60% annual percentage yield (APY) on over $400 million in deposits. Access to the LLP correlates with a user’s points balance, granting greater allocation limits to more active traders.
Lighter’s zero-fee model and points system have spurred speculation among traders. Since its inception, the exchange has recorded substantial trading volumes, occasionally rivaling Hyperliquid. Much of the current excitement revolves around expectations for an upcoming token launch, widely anticipated later this year.
Despite the absence of a token at present, there is already a vibrant over-the-counter market for Lighter points, with points being transacted for tens of dollars each. Prices have escalated from $39 to over $60, with one trader reportedly investing $1 million at $41 each.
A practical method to evaluate a perpetual DEX is by assessing open interest (OI), representing the total value of all trades still open on the platform. The higher the OI, the more capital is committed to positions. Hyperliquid, for instance, has $13.2 billion in OI, supporting a circulating market capitalization of approximately $15.2 billion.
Lighter holds around $2.1 billion in OI. Assuming around 15%-20% of tokens are unlocked at its token launch, this would suggest a circulating market cap of about $1 billion-$1.1 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) in the range of $5 billion-$5.5 billion. With about 12 million points linked to that initial offering, each point could be valued at approximately $83 to $100.
If 15%-20% of the supply is allocated to the community, it would amount to an airdrop valued at $750 million-$1.1 billion for users—potentially one of the largest token distributions in DeFi following Hyperliquid’s drop.
Institutional liquidity enters the chat
An emerging subplot in this competition is the significant but gradual entry of institutional liquidity. Funds that previously steered clear of on-chain derivatives due to concerns over slippage, latency, or compliance are now allocating exploratory capital to these platforms.
Hyperliquid’s speed-centered, transparent framework has garnered increasing attention from professional traders, while Aster’s narrative linked to Binance is capturing notable interest among Asian trading communities.
Lighter, with its sub-five-millisecond execution speed and on-chain settlement model, appeals to prop-trading firms searching for yield without counterparty risks. The next chapter of the DEX wars may hinge less on airdrops and more on which platforms can provide the most dependable infrastructure for substantial capital.
Infrastructure vs. narrative: Who wins in the long run?
As competition intensifies between Lighter, Aster, and Hyperliquid, Hyperliquid still sets the gold standard in on-chain derivatives, buoyed by unmatched open interest, superior execution quality, and rising institutional interest.
Instead of decelerating, the exchange has intensified its initiatives, launching HIP-3, enabling anyone to launch a perp DEX on Hyperliquid’s ecosystem, introducing its USDH stablecoin, and swiftly listing perpetuals for competing tokens like ASTER to capture narrative-driven inflows.
Hyperliquid has also kept its community engaged through innovative reward systems. The Hypurr non-fungible token (NFT) collection, introduced on Sep. 28, 2025, quickly gained popularity, with floor prices around 1,200 HYPE (approximately $55,000 each). The collection’s robust demand has sparked speculation about upcoming reward opportunities and possible updates to the points program.
White observes that the differentiation among emerging DEXs indicates how far market incentives can propel trading compared to the stabilizing effects of quality infrastructure.
“Hyperliquid is banking on execution and liquidity, while Aster and Lighter illustrate how far incentives can push the market,” he said.
“The true test will be whether traders remain active once the airdrop incentives diminish.”
