Lighter (LIT): Zero-Knowledge Rollup Perpetuals DEX on Ethereum
Lighter is a decentralized perpetuals exchange built as a custom zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum that delivers CEX-level speed and costs while keeping all matching, risk checks, and liquidations provably correct and settled on Ethereum. Backed by $90 million from Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures, Craft Ventures, Robinhood, Dragonfly, and Robot Ventures, Lighter (LIT) will soon be available on Bitget!
What is Lighter (LIT)?
Lighter is a decentralized perpetuals exchange built as a custom zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum that delivers CEX-level speed and costs while keeping all matching, risk checks, and liquidations provably correct and settled on Ethereum. Perp DEXs either sacrifice speed for on-chain safety or rely on opaque off-chain matching.
CEXs and many hybrid perps rely on opaque matching engines where traders cannot prove best-execution, absence of backrunning, or price-time fairness. General-purpose L2 DEXs and AMMs are constrained by block times, gas costs, and shared blockspace, limiting suitability for HFT, tight spreads, and professional market making. On-chain perpetuals often carry non-trivial trading fees and gas, disincentivizing active or smaller traders.
Lighter addresses these issues by encoding the orderbook and matching rules (price-time priority) into ZK circuits, so each batch proof attests that orders were matched according to deterministic rule sets with no hidden reordering, shadow fills, or unaccounted internalization.
Core Innovation: Lighter is an application-specific zk-rollup (zkL2) on Ethereum focused on perpetual futures trading. It uses custom zero-knowledge circuits to prove every critical operation: order matching (price-time priority), margin/risk checks, liquidations, and balance updates. User assets are custodied in Ethereum L1 smart contracts; the L1 tracks the canonical state root and only updates it after a ZK proof verifies.
The LIT token is the native token of the Lighter perp DEX, designed as a utility and governance asset with core roles around incentives, staking, fee economics, and protocol control.
Who Created Lighter (LIT)?
Lighter was founded in 2022 by Vladimir (Vlad) Novakovski, who is also the company's CEO and the main public face of the project. The founding team combines high-frequency trading, machine learning, and large-scale engineering experience.
Vladimir Novakovski - Founder & CEO:
Founder and CEO of Lighter since 2022, leading both product and technical direction. Graduated from Harvard at 18, with background in competitive math and physics (Olympiad track). Early career in quant/high-frequency trading at Citadel and Graham Capital, working on systematic and HFT strategies. Led machine learning at Quora and served as VP Engineering at Addepar, building large-scale financial and data systems. Previously co-founded and served as CEO of Lunchclub, an AI-powered professional networking platform, before pivoting the team toward building Lighter.
Founding Team:
● Core engineering group: Focused on zk-circuits, rollup infra, and high-performance order matching
● Quant / trading engineers: Work on risk models, liquidity mechanisms (LLP), and execution logic, leveraging prior HFT and quant backgrounds
● Product & BD leads: Interface with market makers, Robinhood / exchange partners, and DeFi integrators
● Roughly 80% of the original Lunchclub team stayed on through the pivot into Lighter, bringing senior engineering and data infrastructure talent
What VCs Back Lighter (LIT)?
Lighter has raised close to $90 million across two main funding rounds, backed by fintech and crypto investors. The most recent round in November 2025 valued the company at about $1.5 billion.
Funding Rounds:
● Initial Round (2023-2024): ~$21 million USD, led by Haun Ventures and Craft Ventures
● Series A (November 2025): ~$65 million USD, led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital
Total Raised: ~$90 million USD
Valuation: ~$1.5 billion USD (November 2025)
Lead Investors:
● Founders Fund (Series A co-lead)
● Ribbit Capital (Series A co-lead)
● Haun Ventures (Initial round lead)
● Craft Ventures (Initial round co-lead)
Notable Investors:
● Robinhood (strategic investor)
● Dragonfly (crypto VC)
● Robot Ventures
● Coinbase Ventures
● Circle Ventures
● Wintermute Ventures
Major Partnerships
Robinhood: Strategic investor and distribution partner for bringing traditional finance users to Lighter's perpetuals platform.
Chainlink: Oracle infrastructure provider for price feeds and data used in Lighter's matching and liquidation systems.
BitMart: Pre-market partner for the $LIT token (PreToken staking, pre-market listing), commercial partnership around token distribution and market access.
Ethereum Ecosystem: Native integration with Ethereum L1 as settlement and custody layer, with positions and LP/LLP tokens designed to integrate with broader Ethereum DeFi.
How Lighter (LIT) Works
Lighter is a perpetual futures DEX that delivers CEX-like speed and zero fees for most users, while making every match, risk check, and liquidation cryptographically verifiable and ultimately settled on Ethereum. It lets you trade perps fast and cheaply like on a centralized exchange, but with self-custody and proofs that the matching engine followed the rules.
Blockchain Infrastructure
Lighter operates as a custom zero-knowledge rollup (app-specific L2) on Ethereum, using Ethereum mainnet as its settlement, security, and custody layer.
Ethereum Contracts (L1 Layer): Custody layer that holds user deposits and tracks the canonical rollup state root. Verifies zk-SNARK/zk-proof submissions from Lighter's prover; only accepts new state roots if proofs validate, giving Ethereum-level security guarantees.
Lighter zk-Rollup (L2 Execution Layer): Custom zero-knowledge rollup optimized for perp trading; heavy computation (order processing, margin calc, liquidations) runs off-chain. Periodically batches many operations into succinct zk-proofs that attest to correct execution under Lighter's rules.
Technical Architecture
Transaction Pipeline:
● INCOMING_TX / TX_QUEUE: Collects user orders, cancels, and other actions before processing
● MATCHING ENGINE: Central limit orderbook engine that fills orders by price-time priority, producing a sequence of trades
● RISK ENGINE: Calculates margins, PnL, leverage, and determines when accounts must be liquidated under predefined parameters
● EXECUTOR: Applies trades and liquidations to account balances and positions, producing the new L2 state
ZK Proving System:
● CUSTOM ZK CIRCUITS: Encode rules for order matching, margin checks, balance updates, and liquidations, yielding proofs that all operations were valid and rule-compliant
● BATCH PROVER: Aggregates many operations into a compact proof and submits it (plus minimal data) to Ethereum for verification
Data and Security:
● Off-chain engine processes transactions, but key data and state commitments are periodically published so anyone can reconstruct and verify the orderbook state from proofs plus L1 data
● Users interact via the L2, but withdrawals are enforced through Ethereum contracts, with escape/forced-exit mechanisms if the sequencer stalls or censors
User Process
1. Place Orders: Users place perp orders (via UI or API) into an off-chain central limit order book
2. Matching Engine: The matching engine fills orders by price-time priority, then the custom zk circuits prove that these matches respected the rules (no arbitrary reordering, no hidden fills)
3. Risk Checks: A risk engine tracks margin, PnL, and leverage; when an account falls below maintenance thresholds, it is liquidated according to predefined rules
4. Batching: Many trades, transfers, and liquidations are bundled into a single proof, which is posted to Ethereum along with minimal data needed to reconstruct state
5. Settlement: Once the proof verifies, balances and positions are final from Ethereum's perspective, and users can withdraw or continue trading
You can access the platform at lighter.xyz .
Lighter Token (LIT) and Economics
The LIT token is the native token of the Lighter perp DEX, designed as a utility and governance asset with core roles around incentives, staking, fee economics, and protocol control.
Token Details
● Token Ticker: $LIT
● Blockchain: Ethereum (ERC-20 token)
● Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 (1 billion tokens, fixed)
Token Distribution
● Community: 50% (500,000,000 LIT) for community incentives, liquidity, and ongoing programs
● Airdrop / TGE: 25% (250,000,000 LIT) for airdrops and community incentives tied to points program
● Team, Investors, Treasury: 50% (500,000,000 LIT) split across team, investors, and ecosystem funds (full breakdown to be released)
Note: Lighter's marketing lead stated that 50% of total LIT supply will go to the community, with 25% explicitly linked to TGE/airdrop and the rest for ongoing incentives, points, liquidity programs.
Token Utilities
● Governance: LIT used for voting on protocol upgrades, risk parameters (margin, funding), and new market listings
● Staking: Users stake LIT to earn rewards and participate in protocol incentive programs, with access to liquidity pools and boosted rewards
● Trading Fee Discounts: Staking LIT can provide up to 50% trading fee discounts, particularly for accounts where fees are charged (premium/HFT tiers, future features)
● Incentives: Points program converts into LIT at TGE, with 25% of total supply (250M LIT) reserved for airdrops and community incentives
How Users Earn LIT
● Points Program: Users earn points by trading on Lighter, providing liquidity, and participating in ecosystem activities. Points convert to LIT at TGE
● Liquidity Provision: Provide liquidity to Lighter's LLP (Lighter Liquidity Pool) to earn fees and LIT incentives
● Trading Activity: Active traders accumulate points based on volume and activity
● Staking Rewards: Stake LIT to earn additional LIT emissions and protocol rewards
Why Lighter?
Zero-Knowledge Rollup: Application-specific zk-rollup on Ethereum focused on perpetual futures, using custom ZK circuits to prove every critical operation.
Verifiable Matching: Orderbook and matching rules (price-time priority) encoded in ZK circuits, so each batch proof attests that orders were matched according to deterministic rule sets.
Zero-Fee Trading: Zero maker/taker fees for retail accounts on all markets; costs absorbed via optimized proving and monetization from institutional/HFT usage.
CEX-Level Performance: Millisecond latency and tens of thousands of orders/cancels per second, matching centralized exchange performance.
Ethereum Security: Assets custodied in Ethereum L1 smart contracts; L1 tracks canonical state root and only updates after ZK proof verifies.
Non-Custodial: Users retain withdrawal rights even if the L2 operator goes offline, with escape/forced-exit mechanisms.
Backing: $90M from Founders Fund (lead), Ribbit Capital (lead), Haun Ventures (lead), Craft Ventures (lead), Robinhood (strategic), Dragonfly, Robot Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Wintermute Ventures.
Leadership: Founded by Vladimir Novakovski (ex-Citadel, Graham Capital HFT, Quora ML Lead, Addepar VP Engineering, Lunchclub CEO/Co-founder, Harvard at 18).
Valuation: ~$1.5 billion USD (November 2025).
Partnerships: Robinhood (strategic distribution), Chainlink (oracle infrastructure), BitMart (pre-market listing).
Team: 80% of original Lunchclub team pivoted to Lighter, bringing senior engineering talent from HFT, ML, and large-scale systems.
Lighter (LIT) Goes Live on Bitget
We are thrilled to announce that Lighter (LIT) will be listed in the Innovation and DeFi zone.
Trading: Opens on January 15, 2026, 14:30 (UTC)
Withdrawal: Opens on January 16, 2026, 15:30 (UTC)
Trade LIT/USDT on Bitget!
Community Links: Website | Twitter | Discord | Documentation
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are for informational purposes only. This article does not constitute an endorsement of any of the products and services discussed or investment, financial, or trading advice. Qualified professionals should be consulted prior to making financial decisions.
