Lighter’s LIT Tokenomics Split DeFi Community – Fair Launch or Insider Heist?
Lighter, one of many fastest-growing on-chain perpetual exchanges, has triggered a pointy debate throughout the DeFi neighborhood following the release of tokenomics for its newly introduced Lighter Infrastructure Token, LIT.
The launch raises contemporary questions on what constitutes a good launch in an more and more institutionalized on-chain derivatives market.
The protocol mentioned 50% of LIT tokens are allotted to customers, companions, and progress incentives, whereas the remaining 50% is reserved for the staff and traders.
Lighter acknowledged that insider allocations are topic to a one-year cliff adopted by three years of linear vesting, with 26% assigned to the staff and 24% to traders.
Lighter Distributes 25% of LIT at Launch, Triggers Tokenomics Debate
As a part of the launch, Lighter confirmed it had already distributed half of the ecosystem allocation, equal to 25% of the overall provide, via an airdrop tied to its first two factors seasons, which ran all through 2025.
Those applications generated 12.5 million factors that have been transformed into LIT and distributed at launch. The remaining 25% of ecosystem tokens will probably be put aside for future incentive campaigns, partnerships, and broader progress efforts.
In an announcement posted on X, Lighter mentioned that every one worth generated by the LIT DEX and future companies will accrue to token holders.
The firm mentioned it operates from the U.S. via a C-Corp construction, with revenues from buying and selling and different merchandise seen on-chain and allotted between progress initiatives and token buybacks relying on market situations.
The announcement instantly break up sentiment, with some customers praising the transparency round vesting and income allocation, describing the construction as clear and clearly outlined.
Others have been extra essential, specializing in the dimensions of the insider allocation and questioning whether or not a DeFi-native protocol ought to assign half of its provide to the staff and traders, even with lengthy lockups.
Several posts described the break up as extreme, whereas others argued that constructing large-scale derivatives infrastructure requires substantial capital and long-term backing.
Questions additionally emerged round Lighter’s prior fundraising, because the protocol raised $68 million following the launch of its public mainnet, and a few neighborhood members questioned how that translated right into a 24% investor allocation.
Independent calculations circulating on X suggested the implied common absolutely diluted valuation for the increase was nearer to $272 million, reasonably than the headline $1.5 billion determine referenced in later rounds, fueling additional debate round pricing and dilution.
Lighter Climbs the Perps Rankings as Debate Swirls
The controversy comes as Lighter continues to submit robust buying and selling metrics.
Data from DeFiLlama exhibits the platform processed roughly $4.3 billion in 24-hour perpetual quantity, inserting it second behind Hyperliquid every day.
Additionally, Lighter led all on-chain perp venues in 30-day quantity at about $201 billion, surpassing each Hyperliquid and Aster.
Its open curiosity, at round $1.45 billion, stays decrease than some rivals, suggesting sooner place turnover reasonably than long-duration leverage.
Market knowledge signifies this sample is persistent reasonably than incentive-driven, as Lighter additionally ranked close to the highest in seven-day quantity, reinforcing its place as a high-throughput venue favored by energetic merchants.
Broader situations within the derivatives market present context for the launch, with on-chain perpetual futures volumes exceeding $1 trillion on a month-to-month foundation in 2025.
Crypto derivatives buying and selling accelerated sharply in 2025 as merchants more and more turned to onchain perpetual futures.#Crypto #Derivativeshttps://t.co/NRfJCBERpc
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) December 30, 2025
Decentralized venues captured a rising share of that exercise, with platforms like Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter rising as dominant gamers.
Against that backdrop, reactions to LIT additionally performed out in buying and selling conduct, with Blockchain analytics accounts flagged for giant leveraged quick positions opening shortly after the tokenomics announcement.
While Lighter confirmed a long-dormant whale deal with that added to a large lengthy place regardless of unrealized losses.
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