Lighter

2024-01-01

Lighter launches in private beta as a zk-rollup perpetuals exchange on Ethereum (approximate date; exact day not confirmed).

2024-01-01

Lighter closes a previously unreported $21 million funding round led by Haun Ventures and Craft Ventures, with Dragonfly and Robot Ventures participating (year confirmed, exact date not disclosed publicly).

2025-10-02

Lighter launches its public mainnet on Ethereum after roughly eight months in private beta, kicking off its points program.

2025-10-27

A malfunctioning trading bot allegedly drives the HYPE token price from about $47 to nearly $98 in under a minute on Lighter due to thin liquidity; Lighter subsequently removes the resulting wick from its front-end chart, sparking a transparency controversy.

2025-11-11

Lighter announces a $68 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by investors including Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures and Robinhood Markets.

2025-12-29

Lighter announces its LIT token generation event with minimal advance notice.

2025-12-30

LIT token goes live; shortly after, users report withdrawal errors ('Too many L2 Withdrawals') and the Lighter team does not immediately issue a public statement.

2026-01-13

LIT token price falls from a post-launch peak of about $4.04 to roughly $2.05, cutting market capitalization to about $514 million amid sustainability concerns raised by analysts.

2026-01-19

Reporting indicates Lighter's trading volume has fallen roughly 70% from its pre-airdrop peak, dropping behind Hyperliquid and Aster in weekly perpetuals volume.