CEO Leonard has dismissed that interpretation, calling it a misunderstanding of how the network’s token economics are structured. Speaking in an interview with Mable of the social protocol Trends, he said the figures circulating online ignore how much of the supply is locked, earmarked for airdrops, or sitting in exchange wallets on behalf of users.
Why the Numbers Look Skewed
According to Leonard, nearly four-fifths of ASTER’s total supply is locked and can be traced transparently on-chain. At the same time, wallets linked to airdrop allocations make up about 40% of the supply – tokens that were distributed broadly to community members, not retained by the core team. He added that many of the largest addresses reflect deposits at centralized platforms where users are holding tokens for future trades.
The circulating float, he said, is closer to 10% of the total supply. That figure comes from the initial airdrop (roughly 8%) and the one-to-one conversion share for early users (about 10%). The rest is being released gradually on a schedule already detailed in project documentation.
Investor Role and Long-Term Backing
Leonard also emphasized that Aster’s outside investment is unusually narrow. YZi Labs is the project’s only private backer, he explained, and its exposure is through an equity stake rather than a direct token allocation. That means the firm’s ability to sell is capped at a small portion of the 5% distribution reserved for the team.
“They have no reason to exit,” Leonard said, highlighting YZi Labs’ ongoing support. He pointed to Aster’s performance on BNB Chain since its tokenization event as evidence of sustained momentum and investor confidence.
More Than a Perception Issue
While critics highlight token concentration, Leonard argues that the reality looks different when contextualized. The optics of a few large wallets may suggest centralized control, but in practice, most of those tokens are either locked, widely distributed, or held by users rather than insiders.
For Leonard, the debate underscores the challenge of communicating tokenomics in an environment where raw on-chain data can be misinterpreted. “The claim that the team holds all the tokens is simply inaccurate,” he said.
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