- Lighter airdropped 250 million LIT tokens Tuesday from a 1 billion total supply, valuing the protocol at roughly $2.5 billion.
- Half the tokens go to employees and investors with a one-year lockup and three-year vesting; 25% went to early users and 25% reserved for future growth programs.
- The platform, built by Elliot Technologies, is a Layer 2 on Ethereum and recorded about $201 billion in volume over the past 30 days.
- “The token is where the value will accrue,” said founder Vladimir Novakovski, and the company says LIT will be used for fees, staking, and buybacks.
Lighter launched its native token, LIT, in an airdrop on Tuesday, distributing 250 million tokens to users from a total supply of 1 billion. The token opened above $3.30 and fell to about $2.50 on Wednesday, placing the protocol’s market value at roughly $2.5 billion versus a previously reported $1.5 billion valuation in November (as reported).
The token allocation gives half the supply to employees and investors under a one-year lockup and a three-year vesting schedule. A quarter of the supply was immediately airdropped to early users who earned platform points since the January launch, and the remaining quarter is reserved for future points programs and growth initiatives.
Built by Elliot Technologies, Lighter operates as a Layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum and a decentralized exchange offering spot and perpetual futures trading. A perpetual futures contract is a derivative that has no fixed expiry and tracks an asset’s price. The protocol reported more than $201 billion in volume over the past 30 days, according to data.
Founder Vladimir Novakovski stated in a X Spaces that “The token is where the value will accrue.” The company described LIT’s utility in a thread, saying financial data providers and subscribers will use LIT as the fee token and that staking will incentivize verifiable data for trading and risk management (said). The protocol added that revenue will be split between growth initiatives and token buybacks (stated).
Lighter has followed a low-fee retail model and began charging fees for market makers and high-frequency traders in September (charging), a strategy the founder has called “essentially a Robinhood model onchain.” (referred). In November the company raised $68 million in a round led by Founders Fund, with participation from Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures and Robinhood (as reported).
Technical definitions:
– Layer 2 blockchain: a secondary framework built on top of a Base Blockchain to increase speed and reduce costs.
– Perpetual futures: derivative contracts without an expiry date that track an asset’s price.
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