CZ Buys $2.5 Million Worth of Aster, Token Jumps 30%
The price of Aster, a token used on a decentralized exchange platform, rose more than 30% on Sunday after Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao revealed that he now owns over $2.5 million worth of it.
CZ shared his wallet on X (formerly Twitter), saying he had bought Aster using his own money on Binance.
“I’m not a trader. I buy and hold,” he wrote.
After his post, Aster’s price jumped from $0.91 to a peak of $1.26, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, it was trading around $1.22.
A similar price surge happened last week with Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, after Arthur Hayes, a well-known crypto entrepreneur, predicted it could one day reach $10,000.
Traders Follow CZ’s Move
CZ’s post caused a massive rise in Aster’s trading activity. Data from DefiLlama shows trading volume jumped from $224 million to over $2 billion within 24 hours.
Its market capitalization also grew from $1.8 billion to more than $2.5 billion
Some traders quickly followed CZ’s lead. A user named “Gold” posted on X that they bought Aster right after CZ’s announcement, noting that this was the first time CZ publicly revealed buying a token other than BNB.
“CZ, the most influential person in crypto, just bought ASTER with his own money. That’s all you need to know,” they said.
CZ later commented that he wished he had bought more before the price increase, adding that he rarely buys tokens, except for Aster now and BNB eight years ago, which he still holds.
Some Whales Are Betting Against Aster
However, not everyone believes the price rally will continue. Two large investors (known as whales) are shorting Aster, meaning they’re betting its price will drop.
According to Lookonchain, one whale shorted 42.97 million Aster tokens (worth $52.8 million) with a liquidation price of $2, while another shorted 15.3 million tokens (worth $19.1 million) with a liquidation price of $2.1.
CZ’s Link to Aster
Back in September, CZ had congratulated Aster on X, saying the project was “off to a good start” and encouraging the team to “keep building.”
This raised questions about how closely he might be connected to the project.
