Lighter, a decentralized perpetual exchange, has launched its Ethereum Layer 2 public mainnet after eight months of beta testing. The protocol introduces verifiable ZK-based transactions and launches the second season of the points program, which will last until 2025.
Hyperliquid Rival Lighter goes live on Ethereum L2
Lighter, a decentralized perpetual trading platform positioned as a competitor to Hyperliquid, has launched its Ethereum Layer 2 public mainnet after eight months of private beta testing.
According to XPost, the protocol provides low-cost, low-latency perpetual trading leveraging custom zero-knowledge (ZK) circuitry to enable verifiable order matching and liquidation. Designed to replicate the speed and efficiency of high-frequency finance, Lighter aims to deliver an exchange-level experience directly on-chain.
Since launching in beta to just 100 traders, Lighter has grown to over 188,000 unique accounts and over 50,000 daily active users. Retail traders using the front end can continue trading without fees, but API trading, market makers, and high-frequency trading (HFT) are currently subject to fees. The protocol also implements rules to automatically block wash transactions and Sybil attacks.
Looking ahead, the team says it plans to expand composability with Ethereum DeFi and other L2 ecosystems and strengthen its efforts to become a core player in the on-chain derivatives market.