With Christmas or TGE approaching, will Lighter be the next Aster?

Original article | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author | Asher ( @Asher_0210 )

Last night, Lighter announced the completion of a $68 million funding round , led by Founders Fund and fintech investment firm Ribbit Capital, with participation from Haun Ventures and Robinhood. This round of funding brings Lighter's company valuation to $1.5 billion.

As a result of this news, Lighter, which has not yet issued its own token, has suddenly become the most worthwhile Perp DEX project for "profit hunters" to boost trading volume. DefiLlama data shows that Lighter's 24-hour trading volume has exceeded $11 billion, ranking first among Perp DEXs , followed by Hyperliquid ($9.1 billion) and Aster ($8 billion).

Perp DEX 24-hour trading volume ranking

So, with a post-funding valuation of $1.5 billion and no token yet, will Lighter be the next big thing? When will TGE take place? Is it too late to participate now? Below, Odaily Planet Daily will analyze these questions one by one.

Lighter: The 8-month private beta test has ended, and the public beta test was launched on October 2nd.

Lighter is a perpetual contract trading platform built on Ethereum Layer 2, aiming to combine the speed and liquidity of centralized exchanges with the security and transparency of decentralized exchanges. Its core solution uses its self-developed ZK circuits to handle matching and settlement, ensuring that every transaction and every settlement can be verified on-chain, thereby achieving high-speed execution while maintaining decentralized credibility.

If Aster is backed by Binance, then Lighter is backed by Ethereum. Instead of a closed architecture like HyperLiquid's self-built L1, it adopts a core approach of "Ethereum-native composability": LLP tokens can circulate on the mainnet and collaborate with DeFi protocols like Aave, thus enjoying a low-cost, low-latency, and verifiable execution environment within an open ecosystem. Lighter aims to become a decentralized perpetual contract platform that is "as fast as centralized, but verifiable on-chain."

Lighter has concluded its eight-month private beta test, and its public mainnet officially launched on October 2nd. Currently, Lighter is running its second-quarter points program, which, according to Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski, is scheduled to end before the end of the year, not on December 31st.

Lighter founder: The second season of the points event will end before the end of the year, not December 31st.

TGE time or during Christmas

In mid-last month, Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski stated in a Russian-language AMA on YouTube that the second season of the points program would continue until TGE. This, combined with his previous mention on the X platform that "the points program will end before the end of the year, but will not continue until December 31st," and his recent message to community members that "the holidays will be lit this year," makes the expected airdrop timeline clearer.

Vladimir Novakovski's response regarding the TGE timeline

Furthermore, in Polymarket's prediction event regarding whether Lighter will complete the TGE by December 31, the market gave it an 89% probability of completing the airdrop before the end of the year.

Polymarket's prediction regarding whether Lighter will complete TGE by December 31st.

In summary, the community generally speculates that Lighter's airdrop will most likely take place during Christmas, the most important holiday in the West.

Furthermore, according to the AMA, the community airdrop portion of the token economics model accounts for 50% of the total token supply, with the completed first quarter and the ongoing second quarter activities allocating 25% to 30% of the total token supply. In other words, when Lighter conducts TGE, early token holders can receive 25% to 30% of the total token supply via airdrop.

How can I earn points by participating in Lighter trading?

STEP 1. Go to the official platform (link: https://app.lighter.xyz/trade/ ), connect your wallet and log in to your account.

STEP 2. Click “Public Funds Pool”, select LLP, deposit funds, and you can start trading to earn points.

Users can still participate in the second season's points activity to earn points and potentially win token airdrops. The core logic is to earn points at the lowest possible cost. Odaily Planet Daily will compile trading strategies for everyone after the testing is completed, so please stay tuned.