The perpetuals-focused decentralized exchange Lighter announced the launch of its native token LIT. The issuance is evenly split: 50% allocated to the ecosystem, and 50% to the team and investors, with the project immediately distributing 25% of the fully diluted supply via an airdrop.
What is Lighter DEX and the LIT Token?
Lighter is an Ethereum Layer-2 solution focused on perpetuals, combining elements of traditional markets and DeFi. The LIT token is designed as an infrastructural tool to unite traders, developers, and investors, serving not only for governance but also to power platform services. Details on token distribution and security are published in a separate note on token distribution, outlining issuance mechanics and safeguards.
Details of the LIT Airdrop
The airdrop immediately converts 12.5 million points earned in 2025 into LIT tokens—representing 25% of the project’s fully diluted valuation. This one-time distribution aims to reward early participants and establish an initial holder base, while the remaining issuance will fund future rewards, partnerships, and expansion. The team explained that the shares for team and investors are split as 26% and 24% respectively, subject to a one-year lock-up followed by a three-year linear vesting.
LIT Token Functionality
LIT serves not only as a governance token but also for staking, access to order execution tiers, and verification of trading data. Higher access levels require staking more tokens, and participants and data providers pay in LIT for market information and price validation. As the network decentralizes, staking requirements will increase to distribute responsibility among more participants.
Trading Volumes and Competitor Comparison
According to a tracker on Dune, Lighter-based perpetuals recorded an average volume of $2.7 billion over the past seven days, placing the platform third by volume, behind only Hyperliquid and Aster. For comparison, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token market cap stands at $6.26 billion, indicating a major competitor’s scale in the perpetuals ecosystem.
Revenue Transparency and Token Buyback Policy
Lighter states that revenues from the trading platform and future products will be fully trackable on-chain, allowing anyone to verify inflows. The team also notes that proceeds may be used to support ecosystem growth or to buy back LIT tokens, but they do not commit to a strict schedule—decisions will depend on market conditions and long-term plans.
Why This Matters
If you participated in Lighter’s activities in 2025 and earned points, the airdrop grants you direct access to LIT without additional steps. Meanwhile, the distribution and vesting of team and investor tokens affect when large token batches may enter the market, which is important to consider for liquidity assessment.
Staking as a requirement for platform feature access means LIT holders can gain practical benefits—such as access to execution tiers and price data—but this involves locking up tokens. Finally, revenue transparency simplifies platform operation verification, and potential team buybacks are a factor that could influence supply and demand balance.
What to Do?
- Check if you were an early participant and earned 12.5 million points in 2025; if so, expect conversion to LIT and verify receipt details via Lighter’s official channels.
- Evaluate whether you need to hold LIT for access to trading tiers or data: staking grants practical access but requires token lock-up.
- Monitor the vesting schedule and team token distribution to understand potential market supply inflows and price volatility risks.
- Use on-chain revenue data to independently verify Lighter’s activity and token buyback plans; for deeper analysis, review the independent risk analysis of the project.
- If you mine or hold small portfolios, do not expect instant profits from the airdrop: consider LIT as an access and infrastructure tool rather than a quick income source.