The decentralized exchange Aster, operating on BNB Chain, experienced a significant price anomaly in its Plasma (XPL) perpetual contract market on September 26, 2025. The issue arose from a misconfigured index price hard-coded at $1, which, when the mark price cap was lifted, caused the XPL futures price to spike to nearly $4, while other markets remained around $1.3. This discrepancy triggered unexpected liquidations and abnormal fee charges, leading to user losses.
Aster responded swiftly, assuring users that funds were safe and distributing full compensation in USDT within hours, including reimbursement for trading and liquidation fees. The platform's official statement confirmed that all affected users received payments directly to their accounts. Despite the temporary market disturbance, Aster's quick action helped calm trader concerns.
Concurrently, Aster reported record trading volumes, with daily perpetual DEX volume reaching $104 billion on Friday, driven by Aster's $46 billion contribution—surpassing competitors like Hyperliquid. However, community members expressed skepticism over potential risks, citing airdrop incentives and urging caution. The incident draws parallels to past DEX anomalies, such as those on dYdX and GMX, highlighting ongoing stability challenges in decentralized trading.
XPL is the native token of Plasma, a layer-1 network optimized for stablecoins, backed by investors like Peter Thiel and Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. Recent developments, such as Ethena's USDe lending markets on Plasma quickly hitting $1 billion caps, indicate growing traction in the DeFi ecosystem.