The leading perp DEX by trading volume is gearing up for its highly anticipated token airdrop.
Anticipation is building after the perpetual derivatives DEX Lighter published its full codebase and circuits architecture ahead of its much-anticipated token generation event (TGE).
The TGE for Lighter’s LIT token is expected any day now, with the protocol’s airdrop delegation form closing this morning, and Polymarket odds heavily favoring a Monday Dec. 29 token launch date.
The publication leans into Lighter’s focus on transparency, including how the circuits effect “every order, cancel, and liquidation” on the DEX, while some of its competitors have failed to disclose such features.
Lighter has dominated the perpetual trading scene over the last month, processing $222 billion in trade volume over the last 30 days, compared to Aster’s $185 billion and Hyperliquid’s $170 billion.
It is worth noting that Hyperliquid and Aster both currently maintain higher open interest (OI) than Lighter though, with $7.3 billion and $2.4 billion compared to Lighter’s $1.53 billion. OI indicates the total value of open, active positions at any given time.
Polymarket is predicting Lighter’s post-TGE valuation to be between $2 billion and $3 billion. However, it should also be noted that the market tracking this bet includes a clause where all markets revert to “NO” if the token does not launch by Dec 31. This most likely creates a market bias towards lower valuations, as a bet on “no” can be interpreted as a bet on “no launch until 2026.”
Hyperliquid’s pre-market perps have the $LIT token trading at a $3.3 billion valuation, with $11 million in trading volume over the last 24 hours.
