Aster Launches ASTER Token Buyback Reserve Mechanism

On January 19, BlockBeats data reveals key 2025 metrics for crypto contract trading platforms, covering annual trading volume and web traffic (a measure of user interest). ### Contract Trading Volume Leaders Hyperliquid led by a wide margin with **$2.93 trillion** in annual contract volume. It was followed by: - Lighter: $1.314 trillion - Aster: $791 billion ### Web Traffic Rankings Aster topped the list with ~13.23 million visits. Subsequent positions: - Lighter: 11.65 million visits - Hyperliquid: 6.7 million visits ### Additional Platform Data - EdgeX: $586 billion volume, 1.1 million visits - ApeX: $338 billion volume, 1.7 million visits - Pacifica: $82 billion volume, 870k visits ### Note on Pacifica Pacifica’s mainnet launched in June 2024. It recorded no trading volume in H1 2025, so overall metrics remain relatively low. The reported $82 billion volume reflects activity from September to December 2025 (when the platform entered rapid growth).

On January 19, data from GMGN reveals a whale allocated $211,000 to buy GAS two days prior—when the token’s price dipped below $1,000—in a "buy the dip" attempt. However, the price failed to rebound as expected and continued to slide. As of press time, GAS’s market value has dropped to $1.57 million, leaving the whale’s dip-buying funds with a nearly $170,000 loss.

On January 19, BitcoinTreasuries.NET reported that the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System (LSERS)—which manages approximately $1.56 billion in assets—disclosed in its latest filing that it holds 17,900 shares of MicroStrategy (ticker: MSTR), the Bitcoin-focused firm. The position is valued at around $3.2 million based on the disclosed price.

Binance announced on January 19 via an official statement that it has cut USD withdrawal fees for SWIFT bank transfers from $60 to $25 per transaction—effective immediately. The reduced fee applies to both retail and corporate users, while USD SWIFT deposits remain free of charge.

January 19: Per monitoring by HyperInsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight), the entity "Pal" continued to offload HYPE holdings this afternoon while simultaneously adding 1,000 ETH to its long positions. As of press time, the total value of its long positions stands at $43.51 million, including a 25x-leveraged ETH long position worth $36.5 million and a 10x-leveraged HYPE long position worth $3.99 million.

On January 19, Hyperinsight monitoring shows a whale opened a long position on gold token PAXG at 16:41. The whale went long 214 PAXG with 10x leverage (equivalent to ~$1 million), at an average entry price of $4,628.43. The position is currently slightly profitable.