Lighter Protocol data is fully leading the DEX sector

As a perpetual contract DEX based on Arbitrum, Lighter's TVL reached $1.455 billion on December 24, with a 24-hour perpetual contract trading volume of $7.327 billion and an open interest of $1.674 billion. These numbers are absolutely leading in the decentralized derivatives exchange space.

Even more impressive is the 30-day trading volume, with Lighter recording $232.3 billion, surpassing competitors such as Aster and Hyperliquid, becoming the trading volume champion in the perpetual DEX sector. The cumulative trading volume has even reached $12.6 trillion, a scale comparable to that of some centralized exchanges.

From a technical architecture perspective, Lighter uses ZK circuits for verifiable order matching and settlement. This design ensures decentralization while providing performance close to that of centralized exchanges. Users can enjoy a low-latency, high-throughput trading experience, while assets remain on-chain, ensuring security.

On-chain activity data shows that from December 18 to 23, Lighter's daily active addresses fluctuated between 2,413 and 3,451, with daily transaction counts ranging from 4,479 to 6,488. This stable activity indicates that the protocol has a loyal user base rather than relying on short-term airdrop incentives.

Gas consumption fluctuated between 361 and 834 ETH. Considering Arbitrum's low gas fees, this number translates to very user-friendly transaction costs. The number of monthly active addresses reached 137,005, indicating that Lighter has established a considerable user base.

In the fourth quarter, the protocol's revenue reached $37.91 million, which performs excellently in the DEX field, indicating that the protocol's business model is sustainable. Although fees are not distributed as dividends but rather used for buybacks and growth, the healthy revenue situation provides financial support for the project's long-term development.

In terms of token distribution, the top three addresses control 97.94% of the supply, which is a normal phenomenon in the early stages of token issuance. With the ongoing airdrops and the launch of secondary market trading, the distribution is expected to gradually become more decentralized. This concentration also explains why airdrops are so crucial to the community.

The financing background shows that Lighter completed a $68 million financing round in November 2025, with investors including top institutions such as Founders Fund, Ribbit, and a16z, reaching a valuation of $1.5 billion. This valuation level has been somewhat validated in current pre-market quotes.