Aster Chain, the custom blockchain behind Aster’s fast‑growing derivatives exchange, is scheduled to launch its mainnet in March 2026. The rollout will move Aster from testing to a full-production network designed to handle high‑volume trading, with stronger privacy and faster execution.
What Aster Chain Is Building Toward
Aster started as a multi‑chain perpetuals DEX focused on derivatives trading across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum. The team is now adding its own Layer 1, called Aster Chain, to support this trading stack with dedicated infrastructure.
The chain uses zero‑knowledge proofs to maximize speed and privacy, allowing traders to hide position sizes and profit-and-loss data while keeping trades verifiable on‑chain. Aster also aims to offer an experience closer to centralized exchanges, with an order book-style system and sub‑second finality for high‑frequency strategies.
Key Details of the March Mainnet Launch
The Aster Chain mainnet will deploy in the first quarter, as Aster affirmed in its 2026 roadmap. The team subsequently reduced its forecast to a March launch. This follows tens of thousands of people participating in a public testnet earlier this year and internal testing in late 2025.
At launch, Aster Chain will support Aster’s trading products and introduce tools for builders, including a developer kit called Aster Code. The roadmap also includes integrated fiat on‑ and off‑ramps, enabling users to move between traditional money and crypto directly within the ecosystem.
The March mainnet release is only the first step in Aster’s 2026 plan. In the second quarter, the project plans to roll out staking and on‑chain governance for the ASTER token, giving users a direct role in future upgrades.
Aster also signals it will expand support for synthetic products, such as stock perpetuals and real‑world asset markets, on its new chain. For traders, that could mean access to more markets and lower costs on a network tailored to derivatives, while developers get a dedicated environment for DeFi tools that integrate with Aster’s order flow.
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