Aster launches USD1 RWA Boost Phase 1 with 125M WLFI tokens in rewards

Aster DEX is putting serious money where its mouth is. The decentralized exchange, working alongside World Liberty Financial, has rolled out a Phase 1 rewards campaign designed to jumpstart trading activity across its newly minted USD1-denominated real-world asset perpetual markets.

The campaign runs from August 31 through December 31, 2026, distributing 125 million WLFI tokens based on eligible open interest and an additional 6.25 million USD1 tied to trading volume. The total liquidity backing the program sits at roughly $28 million, pooled from approximately 250 million WLFI and 12.5 million USD1.

What Aster actually built

Before the rewards campaign even kicked off, Aster launched five RWA perpetual markets on August 20, 2026. The lineup includes SPCXUSD1, CLUSD1, XAUUSD1, SNDKUSD1, and SKHYNIXUSD1, all settled exclusively in USD1.

The integration between Aster DEX and World Liberty Financial dates back to December 2025. Phase 1 is explicitly positioned as the first in a series of reward programs meant to build out the USD1 RWA ecosystem over time.

How the rewards work

The dual reward structure splits incentives across two behaviors Aster wants to encourage: holding positions and actually trading.

The 125 million WLFI tokens are allocated based on eligible open interest. The 6.25 million USD1 component rewards trading volume, giving active traders an additional reason to route their activity through Aster’s RWA markets.

Traders using single-asset mode with USD1 as their sole collateral qualify for a 2X open interest boost. That effectively doubles the weight of their positions when calculating WLFI rewards. Multi-asset traders can still participate, but they need to keep at least 50% of their collateral in USD1 to remain eligible.