Lighter is a decentralized exchange on Ethereum focused mainly on perpetual futures trading. It was built by a team led by Vladimir Novakovski, and its native token is LIT.
The project describes itself as the first exchange to offer verifiable order matching and liquidations. Its aim is to match the performance of traditional exchanges while keeping the security of a decentralized design.
Lighter runs as an application-specific zero-knowledge (zk) rollup, attaching proofs to order matching and liquidation results and anchoring them on Ethereum. This lets users check that trades were processed according to the rules without trusting the operator.
Final settlement is anchored to Ethereum, and the platform has promoted zero trading fees for regular retail users. Fast execution and low latency are central design goals.
Data provided by CoinGecko
According to public sources as of 2026, LIT launched at its token generation event (TGE) on December 30, 2025, with a fixed supply of 1 billion tokens. The reported allocation is 25% airdrop, 25% ecosystem, 26% team and 24% investors.
The airdrop went to Season 1 and Season 2 points holders at TGE, while team and investor tokens are subject to a one-year cliff. LIT staking went live in late January 2026, tied to liquidity pool access and fee benefits.
Verifiable matching, Ethereum-anchored settlement and zero retail fees are often cited as Lighter's strengths. A design that directs part of exchange revenue toward token buybacks is another notable feature of its ecosystem.
On the other hand, perpetual futures are leveraged products with significant loss risk, and there are technical risks around smart contracts and rollup operation. The unlock schedule for team and investor tokens and changes in regulation are also worth monitoring.
Links to major exchanges below. Check listing and fees on each exchange. Not investment advice; links may contain affiliate (referral) codes.