Lighter Launches Public Mainnet With ZK-Powered Perp DEX on Ethereum L2
Lighter has launched its public mainnet after eight months in personal beta, coming into the aggressive perpetual decentralized alternate (perp DEX) sector.
The firm introduced the rollout on October 2. Its platform permits low-cost, low-latency perpetuals buying and selling with customized zero-knowledge (ZK) circuits. These cryptographic methods validate transactions with out exposing underlying information. They enable verifiable matching and liquidations.
Public Launch After Beta
Built as an Ethereum layer 2 (L2), Lighter combines high-frequency efficiency with onchain transparency. The mission published audit experiences displaying that its good contracts and ZK infrastructure underwent exterior overview. According to the crew, this design balances scalability and safety whereas holding custody in consumer management.
According to DefiLlama, month-to-month buying and selling quantity on perpetual DEXs surpassed $1 trillion for the primary time in September. It reached $1.143 trillion, almost a 50% improve from the prior month.
Several protocols, together with Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter, every recorded greater than $100 billion in 30-day quantity. This exhibits that decentralized derivatives have gotten central to on-chain liquidity.
User Growth, Incentives, and Market Risks
Lighter closed its first factors season and started a second, set to run by late 2025. Deposit caps and referral necessities have been lifted. An invite-based rewards program continues. Accounts have expanded to 188,000, with 50,000 day by day lively customers in contrast with simply 100 throughout early beta.
Retail merchants face no charges. API-driven high-frequency corporations now pay prices. The protocol additionally launched guidelines to curb wash buying and selling and Sybil assaults.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev called Lighter a step ahead for decentralized infrastructure. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes framed it as an experiment in on-chain high-frequency finance. Supporters argue these options present maturity. Analysts at Gate contend that liquidation transparency and margin effectivity stay weaker than centralized requirements.
Decentralized perpetuals processed greater than $2.6 trillion in 2025. The similar evaluation flagged ongoing transparency issues. Another report noticed that day by day buying and selling volumes above $100 billion fueled systemic threat debates. A separate study highlighted how airdrop incentives, together with Lighter’s, are influencing consumer conduct.
Bitwise’s Max Shannon beforehand informed BeInCrypto that the addressable market is already monumental and will increase rapidly if DEXs preserve gaining share from centralized exchanges.
“CEXs processed about $16 trillion over the previous 12 months. Because leverage and buying and selling churn enhance turnover, perp DEX volumes can scale quicker than spot. If market share rises from 30% to 50%, annual DEX volumes might attain $20 trillion inside 5 years. At 75% share, they might attain $30 trillion. These assumptions match latest developments and are bolstered by favorable regulation, stablecoin and alternate IPOs, and rising institutional adoption,” he stated.
Gate analysts additionally recognized 5 persistent dangers within the sector. These embrace liquidity mirages, hidden prices, and inefficient margin methods. Whether Lighter turns into a pillar of DeFi liquidity or faces headwinds could rely much less on cryptographic design than on how regulators and merchants stability pace with belief.
The publish Lighter Launches Public Mainnet With ZK-Powered Perp DEX on Ethereum L2 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
