Binance’s Changpeng “CZ” Zhao moved to put an end to unfettered speculation about his involvement in Leading Aster decentralized exchange. In a straightforward rebuttal of community gossip, he at last laid his CZ Aster position to rest with a clarification that he is “just an advisor” and not a part of the core team.
Leading Aster Rumors
The clarification came after a social media user claimed CZ had confirmed he was “part of the Aster team” in a live audio session and used it to defend predicting bold prices. CZ didn’t wait and immediately went directly to counter the misinformation.
He clarified that while his venture capital firm, YZi Labs, holds a minority interest in Aster and several of Binance’s former employees are on the team, his own CZ Aster role is purely advisory. This ends weeks of top-level speculation regarding the degree to which the Binance founder was involved with the project.
Aster Competes with Binance, But Helps BNB
In his response, CZ made a thoughtful strategic commentary. He conceded that Aster technically “competes with Binance,” but hastened to add that its success actually “benefits BNB.”
This subtlety suggests a tide rising all boats. An effective project within the BNB Smart Chain ecosystem, even a competitor to Binance’s exchange business core, can propel aggregate value and adoption back to the native BNB token.
The Effect of the Clarification
The CZ Aster announcement comes at the critical juncture for Aster. Its native token ASTER has been on a stellar run, up over 7,000% since launch and attracting massive retail and institutional interest. CZ’s very first celebratory tweet had already already provided the project with a huge visibility boost, and this latest explanation is to provide it with further legitimacy while keeping it at arm’s length from being accused of outright market manipulation by the Binance founder.