Aster DEX Launches Hidden Orders Following CZ’s Call for ’Dark Pool’ Perpetuals

The rollout of such features underscores a growing interest in protecting traders from on-chain visibility risks, such as frontrunning and Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) attacks. The development could also signal a broader shift toward privacy-first infrastructure within decentralized finance (DeFi).

“Theres growing demand in DeFi for dark pool mechanics, especially from funds and traders seeking to avoid MEV, sandwiching, and toxic flow exposure,” said Vinson Leow, the CSO at Momentum.

However, Leow pointed out that while features like Aster‘s hidden orders are “a step forward,” the tradeoff is that it’s limiting transparency. He called this critical for price discovery and trustless composability. “Dark pools will need to integrate selective disclosure and maintain auditability without revealing [live] trade intent in order to scale,” he said.

Luis Bezzenberger, the Head of Product at Shutter Network, echoed this sentiment, stating that while short-term privacy is beneficial, if orders stay hidden too long, it could damage market transparency and efficiency. “An interesting direction could be threshold-FHE (fully homomorphic encryption) on top of threshold cryptography, letting us balance privacy with fair, verifiable settlement,” he suggested.

Zhao originally proposed the idea on June 2 in response to the widely publicized losses of pseudonymous trader James Wynn, who publicly shared his $1.2 billion BTC long position on Hyperliquid. Wynn later claimed that this public disclosure made him a target, leading to efforts to liquidate his position and resulting in approximately $17.5 million in losses. “The only reason price has gone down is because they are hunting me,” he said in a tweet that week.

“For perps (or futures), it is even more important to not let others know/see your orders,” CZ said at the time. “If others can see your liquidation point, they could try to push the market to liquidate you. Even if you got a billion dollars, others can gang up on you. This was possibly what we have seen recently.”