Lighter exchange airdrop enters the top 10 largest distributions - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, future

# The Lighter exchange airdrop entered the top 10 largest distributions

Perp-DEX Lighter conducted a token airdrop of LIT worth a total of $675 million. The event ranked among the top ten largest asset distributions in the history of the crypto industry, according to CoinGecko.

In terms of dollar-equivalent funds, the Lighter airdrop surpassed 1inch ($671 million) and took tenth place in the overall ranking. The absolute leader remains Uniswap, which distributed tokens worth $6.43 billion in 2020.

Source: CoinGecko. Most recipients chose not to sell their coins. Analyst Arndxt noted that 75% of users kept their assets, and 7% bought more tokens on the open market.

shedding some $LIT airdrop stats

people are not selling their airdrops (75% still holding) and some have been accumulating $LIT instead.

prices have been holding up $2.5 to $2.7 very strongly

the perp meta is not dead but going to get more competitive from here on pic.twitter.com/MDu3KunVyS

— arndxt (@arndxt_xo) December 31, 2025

However, some investors expressed concerns regarding the project’s tokenomics. Half of the total LIT issuance is reserved for the team and investors with a one-year lock-up and subsequent multi-year vesting.

50% to team??? What the rug is this??

— CocoFusion Labs (@CocoFusionLabs) December 30, 2025

Market participants called this share excessively high for a DeFi protocol. Some compared this model to that of a competitor — the Hyperliquid platform.

At the time of writing, LIT is trading at $2.66 ( -18.1% over 24 hours). The market capitalization of the asset is $692.9 million, according to CoinGecko.

Hourly chart of LIT/USDT on MEXC exchange. Source: TradingView. Crypto investor pseudonym Casa warned that buying at current levels might be profitable only in the short term.

I think most people are trading for re-pricing of $LIT towards 5B-6B FDV, which is justifiable given that $ASTER is trading around there.
Aster and Lighter should be more comparable at this point, I mean if you cannot even pass $ASTER then no need to compare w/ HYPE yet.
So… pic.twitter.com/vGE0wFFkLs

— casa (@coin_casanova) December 30, 2025

For long-term growth, the project will need a significant increase in trading volumes and user retention.

Perp-DEX Boom

The Lighter token distribution occurred amid explosive growth in the perp-DEX market. By the end of 2025, the total trading volume in the sector reached $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.

Source: DefiLlama. In 2025, it accounted for $7.9 trillion, or 65% of the all-time trading volume of such platforms.

Peak activity occurred in the second half of the year. If in the first six months the volume was $2.1 trillion, in the second half it grew to $5.74 trillion (73% of the annual turnover). Since October, monthly volumes have consistently exceeded $1 trillion. The fourth quarter surpassed all first-half values.

Increased liquidity and improved order execution turned perp-DEXs from alternative platforms into primary venues for margin trading.

End of Hyperliquid Monopoly

The sector began forming as early as 2021 with the emergence of dYdX and Perpetual Protocol, but gained significant momentum in 2023 after the launch of Hyperliquid.

In the first half of 2025, Hyperliquid dominated the market with monthly volumes from $175 billion to $248 billion. Competitors, including Aster and Lighter, lagged significantly during this period.

Source: DefiLlama. The situation changed mid-year. Lighter increased its monthly volumes from less than $50 billion to over $100 billion by the third quarter. The Aster platform showed explosive growth at the end of the year, reaching $259 billion in October and November.

Statistics indicate a market transformation: the sector shifted from dominance by a single platform to a competitive ecosystem with several major players.

Recall that in October, Lighter launched a second-layer mainnet on the EVM basis. In December, the platform added spot trading functionality.