Lighter Raises $68 Million at $1.5 Billion Valuation to Challenge Decentralized Derivatives Giants

• Lighter raised $68 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures, and Robinhood.
• Built on Ethereum zk-rollup tech, the exchange posted $279.5 billion in 30-day trading volume and $1.15 billion TVL.
• Funds will expand Lighter’s multi-chain derivatives suite and institutional trading tools, as it challenges DeFi rivals Hyperliquid and Aster.

Ethereum-based perpetuals exchange Lighter has secured $68 million in fresh funding at a $1.5 billion valuation. It has now positioned itself as one of the most valuable DeFi startups globally. The round was led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Haun Ventures and Robinhood Markets.

The raise, structured through equity and token warrants, marks Lighter’s second major funding milestone after a $21 million round in 2024, bringing its total funding to nearly $90 million.

Founded by Vladimir Novakovski, a former Citadel trader and Harvard graduate who began his career at just 18, Lighter is now emerging as one of the most formidable competitors in the decentralized derivatives landscape, one currently dominated by Hyperliquid and Aster.

Built on Ethereum’s Layer 2 zk-rollup technology, Lighter operates both as a decentralized exchange and a blockchain. It offers zero trading fees for retail users while maintaining institutional-grade transparency through on-chain proofs for order matching and liquidation.

According to DefiLlama, the platform has already registered $279.5 billion in 30-day trading volume. Additionally, it has $1.15 billion in total value locked and $1.7 billion in open interest.

“Our vision is to become the verification layer for finance — ensuring that everything in trading happens fairly, transparently, and verifiably,” said Novakovski.

Lighter plans to use the new funds to expand its derivatives suite across multiple blockchains, deepen liquidity pools, and introduce monetization tools for institutional traders, while keeping retail order flow free of fees. The company also aims to enhance infrastructure for low-latency execution and scalability ahead of its upcoming token-generation event.

“Vlad and the team he’s built is 85% to 90% of why we made the investment,” said Joey Krug, partner at Founders Fund, highlighting Novakovski’s blend of technical and financial acumen.

Editorial Note: This news article has been written with assistance from AI. Edited & fact-checked by the Editorial Team.

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