LIT Token Officially Launches: Lighter Releases Infrastructure Token Sparks Hot Discussion in DeFi Community

December 30, 2025, the rapidly emerging decentralized perpetual contract exchange Lighter officially launched its native token, the Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT). The release was accompanied by a large-scale airdrop plan and a tokenomics model that sparked widespread community discussion.

According to its official announcement, LIT is positioned as a core asset supporting its decentralized exchange (DEX) and broader future financial infrastructure routes, aiming to unify incentives among all participants through staking and platform functionalities.

01 Launch Core: Functionality Positioning and Distribution Plan of the LIT Token

Lighter defines LIT as a utility token with functional purposes, rather than a simple governance token. Its core design philosophy is that all value generated by Lighter’s products and services will ultimately belong to LIT holders.

Specifically, the token will be used for a series of key platform functions, including access to services, enhancing trade execution quality, and participating in data verification services.

The token distribution plan is the focus of this release. Lighter adopts a 50/50 split: 50% of the total supply is allocated to ecosystem development, and the remaining 50% is allocated to the team and investors.

Within the 50% ecosystem share, half (i.e., 25% of the total supply) has been immediately distributed via airdrop. This portion rewards early users who participated in the “Points Activity” in Q1 and Q2 of 2025, with a total of 12.5 million points converted and distributed.

02 Distribution Dynamics: Community Incentives and Long-term Locked Internal Shares

The remaining 25% of the ecosystem share will be reserved for future incentive activities, partnerships, and broader growth plans. This indicates the project team’s intention to promote organic ecosystem expansion through token incentives.

Of the 50% allocated to the team and investors, the team receives 26%, and investors receive 24%. These tokens are not immediately tradable; instead, they are subject to strict release rules: all internal shares will undergo a one-year cliff lock-up, followed by linear vesting over three years.

Lighter emphasizes that this long-term ownership arrangement is designed to align the interests of internal personnel with the project’s long-term success and to reduce early sell-off pressure. The project team also states that its operational entity is a US-based C-Corp, and all revenue will be allocated for growth initiatives or token buybacks based on market conditions.

03 Market Performance: Price Dynamics Amid Strong Trading Volume

The launch of LIT is built on Lighter’s robust market performance. Data shows that the platform’s trading volume over the past 30 days reached approximately $200 billion, surpassing competitors Hyperliquid and Aster, ranking first among decentralized perpetual contract exchanges.

On December 31, the second day after the token’s launch, according to Gate’s market data, the overall market sentiment in the cryptocurrency space was in “extreme panic” (index at 21), but mainstream assets like Bitcoin (priced at $88,707) and Ethereum (priced at $2,981) remained slightly up.

Regarding LIT’s specific price, data from multiple platforms indicates it experienced significant volatility after launch. The initial price was around $3.40, then quickly declined.

As of December 31, LIT’s trading price mainly fluctuated between $2.45 and $2.81. This reflects a market in a fierce price discovery phase during the early stages of token issuance.

04 Community Controversy: Fair Launch Debate and Whale Movements

LIT’s tokenomics model has sparked contrasting reactions within the DeFi community, with the core controversy centered on the 50% internal allocation ratio.

Some community members appreciate its transparent vesting schedule and income distribution, considering the structure clear and conducive to long-term development. However, more critical voices argue that for a native protocol claiming decentralization, reserving half of the supply for the team and investors—even with long-term lockups—seems overly aggressive.

This disagreement is also reflected in on-chain trading behaviors. Blockchain analysis shows that shortly after the tokenomics was announced, whale addresses opened large leveraged short positions, betting on a decline in the token’s price.

Meanwhile, some long-dormant whale addresses chose to increase their long positions, despite facing paper losses, indicating that certain large holders still believe in LIT’s long-term value.

05 Future Outlook: Infrastructure Narrative and Competitive Landscape

Lighter positions LIT as “the infrastructure of future finance.” Its technical foundation is built on an Ethereum-based zero-knowledge proof (ZK) application-specific chain, aiming to provide trading services that combine high speed, low cost, self-custody, and a centralized exchange-like order book experience.

With the launch of LIT, Lighter is shifting from simple product expansion to a fully tokenized ecosystem model. The token will be deeply integrated into its infrastructure operations, such as through a tiered staking system for participation in trade execution and validation, ensuring fairness and accuracy.

Looking at the entire decentralized derivatives sector, monthly trading volume has exceeded $1 trillion, with fierce competition. Lighter’s main competitor, Hyperliquid, currently maintains a 24-hour trading volume of about $6.8 billion.

LIT’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) of approximately $281 million, compared to Hyperliquid’s over $25 billion FDV, indicates that the market currently views Lighter as a growth-potential challenger, with future development highly dependent on subsequent adoption and execution.

Future Outlook

As of December 31, the total value locked (TVL) on the Lighter platform has risen to a record high of $1.456 billion, demonstrating ongoing capital inflows into its ecosystem. This not only provides trading depth but also lays the foundation for building more financial infrastructure services in the future.

On mainstream trading platforms like Gate, investors can closely monitor the price movements of LIT alongside other major cryptocurrencies. The coexistence of “extreme panic” market sentiment and resilience among mainstream coins suggests a new wave of market battles is brewing. Whether LIT can stand out with its unique economic model and technological narrative amid fierce competition will be one of the most watched stories in DeFi in early 2026.