The attack on Hyperliquid failed: the exchange Aster, linked to CZ, lost 4 times more than the victim.
Competition between the two largest decentralized derivatives exchanges has escalated into open conflict. A trading address, allegedly funded through the Aster platform, attempted to artificially crash the liquidity of its direct competitor, Hyperliquid. Aster is publicly supported by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), putting the confrontation in the spotlight.
The organizers used an old manipulation scheme. However, this time the system worked differently, causing the attacker to lose four times more than their victim. Here’s how it happened.
Chronicle of a Failed Manipulation
An attempt to deceive the trading platform on June 16 was recorded by analysts from the Markets Alpha channel. According to blockchain analysis, the address belonged to a group of wallets that had withdrawn $2.3 million from Aster a week earlier. About 20 hours before the incident, this wallet transferred $635,000 to Hyperliquid. Immediately after, the trader began aggressively opening a long position on the Fartcoin token.
The stages of the operation were as follows:
- Position buildup: $7.1 million — reached 20% of open interest.
- Forced closure: $0 — complete liquidation and loss of $540,000.
- Outcome for the HLP pool: loss of about $130,000 — successfully absorbed and closed the position.
Thus, the plan completely failed, and the identity of the wallet owner remains undisclosed.
The Scenario That Didn’t Work
Analyst il.hl detailed the classic attack scheme, consisting of five sequential steps:
- Accumulating about 20% of open interest in a low-liquidity asset.
- Artificially inflating the price through spot market purchases.
- Provoking protective liquidation of large positions.
- Forcing these positions into the HLP liquidity pool.
- Mass dumping of tokens, leaving the pool with huge losses.
Attackers had used a similar algorithm in past incidents on Hyperliquid. However, this time the strategy failed from the start. After four hours of continuous buying, the wallet was liquidated, so the organizer didn’t even have time to start inflating the price. As a result, the attacker suffered much greater financial damage than the targeted platform itself. Later, on June 18, well-known trader MartyParty confirmed that Aster was openly attacking Hyperliquid.
Context: The Aster vs. Hyperliquid Conflict
The Aster platform is a multichain DEX without mandatory user verification. The project was created by merging Astherus and APX Finance, followed by a rebranding with support from YZi Labs. The exchange offers clients massive leverage of up to 1000x. Changpeng Zhao openly calls this project Hyperliquid’s main rival. Consequently, the businessman has been repeatedly accused of attacking the platform through Aster.
As an analyst, I see this incident as an important signal: even with proven schemes and significant capital, manipulations on modern DEXs are becoming less effective. Robotic liquidity pools like HLP demonstrate resilience to attacks, strengthening trust in decentralized platforms. However, the conflict between Aster and Hyperliquid is far from over, and the market may see new, more sophisticated attempts at destabilization.