Investors are diving back into DeFi through perpetual DEXs, and Lighter is a shining example. The decentralized trading protocol has just raised $68 million, propelling its valuation to $1.5 billion. The operation was led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with notable participation from Haun Ventures and Robinhood.
Lighter: The Bet of a New Generation Exchange
Lighter fully banks on the wave of perpetual DEXs. Based on Ethereum, it combines two dimensions: a high-performance Layer 2 infrastructure and a perpetual contract trading platform. These derivatives allow traders to take long or short positions without expiration dates, all with reduced costs and instant execution.
Its goal? To offer the speed of a centralized exchange while maintaining the transparency and security of on-chain. Thanks to its own Layer 2, Lighter promises minimal fees, instant settlements, and total transaction traceability. A clear positioning: proving that a DEX can compete with centralized giants without compromising decentralization.
The Grand Return of Funds in Perpetual DEXs
This record raise comes in the context of a massive return of investors to decentralized derivatives. The perpetual market, long considered a speculative playing field, is now becoming a key infrastructure for decentralized finance.
On centralized platforms like Binance or OKX, futures contracts, mostly perpetual, represented $5.6 trillion in volume in September. For the year, futures total around $49 trillion, compared to $14.8 trillion for spot and barely $1.3 trillion for options.
And on-chain, the trend is just as explosive: perp DEXs now account for over 56% of total volume traded on DEX, up from 50% a year ago. In October, on-chain volumes reached a record of $1.2 trillion, fueled by liquidations, trading incentives, and user migration from centralized platforms.
Towards a New Era of Decentralized Exchanges
This resurgence of interest is explained by a paradigm shift. Investors are no longer just betting on airdrops, but on product strength: execution quality, liquidity depth, risk management. Players like Hyperliquid have paved the way, proving that an agile team could compete with industry behemoths.
Lighter aims to follow in this lineage: building institutional on-chain trading rails capable of handling large volumes and attracting liquidity professionals.
And now? Spot trading, staking, and a future token
Lighter’s roadmap doesn’t end there. The team plans to integrate spot trading and staking by the end of the year, along with liquidity programs designed for market makers.
The investors in the funding round have also received warrants for a future token, intended for governance and incentives on the network. No launch date has been set, but the market is already anticipating a possible release by 2026.
A clear bet: transforming today’s perpetual DEXs into the backbone of decentralized trading tomorrow.
