Aster (ASTER) continues to navigate a challenging market environment as altcoins struggle to regain momentum. The token has dropped nearly 48% over the past 30 days, closely mirroring the broader market decline. Despite this downturn, the Aster team remains committed to reinforcing long-term holder confidence through accelerated buybacks and ongoing deflationary measures. Its latest announcement underscores this strategic focus.

Aster Accelerates Stage 4 Buyback Program

In a new update, Aster confirmed a significant enhancement to its Stage 4 buyback program, increasing the pace of daily executions to provide stronger support during periods of heightened volatility.

Starting December 8, the project raised its daily buyback execution rate from roughly $3 million to approximately $4 million. This faster schedule aims to push all accumulated Stage 4 fees on-chain more rapidly, helping stabilize price movements and bolster market confidence.

With this adjustment, Aster expects to clear the backlog of fees collected since November 10 far more efficiently. Based on current revenues, the project anticipates reaching a consistent execution rhythm within 8 to 10 days. Once stabilized, daily buybacks are expected to continue at 60% to 90% of the previous day’s revenue until Stage 4 is completed.

Token Burns and Roadmap Progress Add Long-Term Support

Aster’s efforts extend well beyond buybacks. On December 5, the official buyback wallet burned 77.86 million ASTER, valued at approximately $79.81 million. This burn permanently removed nearly 1% of the total token supply, reinforcing Aster’s deflationary model and strengthening holder conviction.

Adding to long-term optimism, Aster recently unveiled its H1 2026 roadmap, which includes major ecosystem milestones. Among the highlights is the planned launch of Aster Chain, a custom Layer-1 blockchain engineered for sub-second finality and high-volume perpetual trading — a key step in expanding Aster’s utility and infrastructure.

Outlook

Although short-term market conditions remain fragile, Aster’s expanded buyback strategy, significant token burn activity, and forward-looking roadmap demonstrate a strong commitment to ecosystem stability. Should the broader crypto market recover, these foundations may help position Aster for renewed momentum.

Crypto merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has reached unprecedented levels in 2025, with total deal value hitting $8.6 billion by November and a record 133 transactions completed. The surge marks the strongest year ever for crypto-sector consolidation, surpassing the combined totals of the past four years, according to data from PitchBook.

Coinbase Leads With Landmark Acquisitions

Coinbase has emerged as the year’s most aggressive buyer, completing six major deals. The centerpiece was its $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, one of the industry’s largest crypto-derivatives marketplaces. The company also expanded deeper into infrastructure, advertising, and Web3 product ecosystems through acquisitions including:

• Spindl (blockchain advertising)
• Roam Browser Team (Web3 browsing tech)
• Echo (on-chain capital raising platform)
• Vector.Fun (memecoin exchange platform)
• Liquifi (token management infrastructure)

These moves underscore Coinbase’s strategy to build a vertically integrated ecosystem ahead of intensifying U.S. regulatory clarity and improving macro conditions.

Ripple and Kraken Make Strategic Plays

Ripple also recorded a milestone year with four major acquisitions, signaling ambitions beyond its payments-focused roots. Key deals included:

• Hidden Road ($1.25B) – prime brokerage expansion
• GTreasury ($1B) – corporate treasury management capabilities
• Rail ($200M) – stablecoin infrastructure
• Palisade – wallet and security integrations

Meanwhile, Kraken closed five deals in 2025, positioning itself for broader derivatives and institutional market access. Highlights include:

• NinjaTrader (futures trading platform)
• Breakout (proprietary trading tech)
• Small Exchange ($100M) – boosting U.S. derivatives capabilities
• Backed Finance AG – issuer of tokenized stocks via xStocks

The acquisition of Backed Finance further strengthens Kraken’s push into real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

Why Crypto M&A Is Exploding

Despite a market-wide correction, M&A activity is being driven by several tailwinds:

• Regulatory clarity in the U.S.
• Lower interest rates following Federal Reserve policy shifts
• Institutional expansion into tokenization and derivatives
• A maturing environment where consolidation accelerates product innovation and cross-market connectivity

The record-breaking year signals that crypto companies are not only adapting to macro conditions—they’re scaling aggressively to shape the industry’s next growth cycle.

U.S. prosecutors are seeking a 12-year prison sentence for Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, arguing that the collapse of Terra and Luna amounted to one of the largest frauds in crypto history. The request, filed in the Southern District of New York, highlights the scale of losses tied to TerraUSD (UST) and Luna’s algorithmic failure—an implosion that erased more than $40 billion and triggered widespread contagion across the digital asset sector.

In their filing, prosecutors said Kwon spent years misleading investors about TerraUSD’s stability, artificially inflating its perceived safety and contributing to the system’s eventual collapse. They argued that the fallout extended far beyond market volatility, calling Terra’s unraveling “a defining moment” that reshaped global regulatory scrutiny of crypto markets.

Kwon’s defense team has pushed for a significantly lighter sentence—up to five years—claiming that coordinated trading activity from third parties and broader market stress helped accelerate TerraUSD’s depeg. They cited research, including Chainalysis data, suggesting that external actors exploited structural weaknesses rather than Kwon deliberately engineering the collapse.

Kwon pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and conspiracy charges. His criminal case stems from a March 2023 indictment that included commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and market manipulation allegations. The core of the case centers on TerraUSD, the algorithmic stablecoin designed to maintain a $1 peg through a balancing mechanism with its sister token, Luna. When that mechanism failed in May 2022, both assets collapsed rapidly, wiping out tens of billions in value and triggering insolvencies across multiple crypto firms.

Prosecutors are not seeking restitution, citing the complexity of calculating losses across global bankruptcy cases already underway. Instead, they requested forfeiture of roughly $19 million, noting that compensation efforts for victims will primarily be handled through restructuring processes tied to firms affected by Terra’s collapse.

Kwon’s legal challenges span multiple countries. After being arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for attempting to travel on forged documents, he was extradited to the United States in December 2024 following competing requests by both the U.S. and South Korea. He also previously lost a civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where a jury found that Terraform Labs and Kwon misled investors about TerraUSD’s mechanics and backing.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 11, marking a key moment in one of crypto’s most consequential legal sagas. While the ruling will conclude Kwon’s federal criminal case, numerous bankruptcy, civil and creditor proceedings tied to Terra’s collapse remain ongoing.