The price of Aster (ASTER) surged more than 28% in the past 24 hours, soaring to $1.25 after Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao revealed that he personally bought the altcoin using his own money.
CZ made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter) earlier today, posting a screenshot from his Binance account that showed the transaction. “Full disclosure. I just bought some Aster today, using my own money, on Binance. I am not a trader. I buy and hold,” he wrote.
The post, which quickly went viral, triggered an immediate wave of buying activity across exchanges. Within hours, ASTER’s trading volume skyrocketed by over 250%, reaching $1.2 billion, one of the token’s busiest trading days of 2025.
Before the tweet, Aster was trading around $0.97, showing little movement. Minutes after CZ’s post, the price spiked sharply, peaking above $1.25 according to data from CoinMarketCap. The token’s market capitalization now stands at $2.52 billion, with its fully diluted value approaching $10 billion.
The rally coincided with a surge in social media mentions and community activity, as traders rushed to follow the Binance founder’s move. Within hours, Aster climbed into the top 40 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Aster Network is a Layer-1 blockchain focused on smart contracts and interoperability. Built within the Polkadot ecosystem, Aster also supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), allowing developers to build decentralized applications compatible with both networks.
The project recently completed its token migration from $APX to $ASTER, which allowed holders to convert their previous tokens to the new standard, a move that positioned the network for greater scalability and utility across multiple ecosystems.
CZ’s comment that he is “not a trader” but a long-term holder reinforced his reputation for conviction-based investing rather than short-term speculation. His rare public disclosure drew widespread attention from both retail traders and institutional players, many of whom see his moves as a signal of market confidence.
While it remains unclear why CZ specifically chose Aster, his public endorsement appears to have reignited interest in the project and injected fresh momentum into the broader altcoin market.
For now, Aster stands as the day’s top gainer, and one of the few tokens to post double-digit gains amid a largely sideways crypto market.
