Lighter's Perpetual Volume Surges Past $10B Milestone

Ecosystem Growth Fuels the Milestone

Lighter, the zero-knowledge perpetual futures exchange built on Ethereum, has recorded more than $10 billion in cumulative perpetual trading volume, driven largely by a growing network of ecosystem integrations. The figure marks a significant step for a platform that launched its public mainnet in April 2025 and has since expanded rapidly into the decentralized derivatives market.

Much of that growth has been channelled through Lighter's Partner Attribution program. The program allows third-party integrators to build on top of Lighter and offer its trading infrastructure through their own frontend, with integrators able to configure trading fees for users within limits set by Lighter. The setup has helped Lighter extend its reach beyond its own interface without fragmenting its core liquidity.

Founded by Vladimir Novakovski, Lighter is a zk-rollup perpetual-futures exchange built on Ethereum, offering zero fees for retail users and advanced on-chain proofs for order matching and liquidations. The business model is effectively payment for order flow rebuilt on-chain: zero fees for retail, with revenue coming from selling access to that order flow to sophisticated firms through premium accounts.

Robinhood Chain and New Market Listings

Lighter is the official perpetuals partner of Robinhood Chain, live since the July 1, 2026 mainnet launch. Eligible users trade perps inside Robinhood Wallet using $USDG as collateral and quote asset, and the two companies split revenue 50/50. The perpetuals product remains unavailable to residents of the US, UK, Canada, Switzerland, UAE, and Singapore.

Alongside the Robinhood Chain integration, Lighter has continued adding new spot and perpetual markets as part of its broader effort to diversify available instruments for traders across its integrations.

Lighter raised $68 million in a funding round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with the announcement coming as Lighter pushed to the top of perpetual futures-focused DEXs, outpacing rivals including Hyperliquid and Aster. Hyperliquid's market share among perp DEXs had declined from roughly 80% in August 2025 to around 38% by early 2026, as aggressive competitors carved out significant territory.

Sources:
The Defiant: Lighter Rises to Top Perp DEX, Reveals $68M Raise
CoinDesk: Lighter Raises $68M at $1.5B Valuation
Lighter Docs: Partner Attribution Program