The Lighter DEX protocol faces insider trading allegations following significant LIT token sales and $250 million in withdrawals after its airdrop event. Concerns about liquidity and market stability arise as yield farmers exit the platform.

Date: Fri, Jan 02, 2026 | 06:20 AM GMT The broader cryptocurrency market has started the new year on a positive note, with both Bitcoin (BTC)

The Lighter DEX protocol faces insider trading allegations following significant LIT token sales and $250 million in withdrawals after its airdrop event. Concerns about liquidity and market stability arise as yield farmers exit the platform.

Justin Sun's wallets accumulated 1.6 million LIT tokens after the Lighter token launch, amidst liquidity pressures and profit-taking. With 5.32% of the circulating supply, Sun's holdings reflect significant market influence despite recent volatility.

Date: Fri, Jan 02, 2026 | 06:20 AM GMT The broader cryptocurrency market has started the new year on a positive note, with both Bitcoin (BTC)

Lighter's LIT Airdrop Suspected of Insider Manipulation, On-Chain Data Shows a Few Wallets Divided Over $26 Million, Sparking Fairness Controversy in DeFi. At the start of the new year, the decentralized perpetual contract exchange Lighter launched the Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT) airdrop plan, which was originally seen as a "model of reward" in the DeFi community. However, it is now embroiled in suspicion of "insider manipulation." According to on-chain analysts, a group of wallets appears to have coordinated their actions to pre-position and divide over $26 million worth of LIT tokens, triggering strong community backlash and distrust. Five Wallets' Master Moves: $500,000 USDC Invested to Receive 9,999,999.6 LIT

The Lighter team allocates 50% LIT token to the ecosystem, 26% to the team, and 24% to investors. LIT token surges on the daily chart and pre-market trading. Lighter, an Ethereum-based decentralized perps exchange, has announced the launch of its native token, LIT. This announcement

At the beginning of the new year, the decentralized perpetual contract exchange Lighter launched the Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT) airdrop plan, which was originally regarded as a "model of rewards" in the DeFi community. However, it is now embroiled in suspicions of "insider manipulation." According to on-chain analysts, a group of wallets is suspected of coordinating operations to pre-position and divide over $26 million worth of LIT tokens, triggering strong community backlash and distrust. Five wallets' masterful operation: 5 million USDC invested to exchange for 9,999,999.6 LIT Well-known on-chain analyst @mlmabc posted a detailed analysis on the social platform X, pointing out that a group of five wallets collectively engaged with Lighter approximately nine months ago.

Introduction Lighter, a prominent player among perpetual decentralized exchanges, has recently revealed its tokenomics for the new Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT), generating varied reactions within the DeFi community. The structure of the token distribution, alongside its recent launch, has

Lighter (LIT) – the underlying token of the decentralized perpetual contract exchange that just launched – is still in the process of finding its equilibrium after a lively startup phase thanks to the airdrop program. Although there was a slight adjustment immediately after listing, LIT has maintained a price around $2.73, with the effect

The Lighter team allocates 50% LIT token to the ecosystem, 26% to the team, and 24% to investors. LIT token surges on the daily chart and pre-market trading. Lighter, an Ethereum-based decentralized perps exchange, has announced the launch of its native token, LIT. This announcement

The rapidly rising on-chain perpetual contract exchange Lighter recently announced its governance token LIT's economic model, immediately sparking intense division and in-depth debate within the DeFi community. According to its plan, 50% of the total supply of LIT will be allocated to the team and investors, with a one-year lock-up and a three-year linear unlock schedule; the remaining 50% is reserved for user airdrops, partners, and future ecosystem incentives. This "50/50" distribution model has received some praise from users for its transparent unlocking mechanism and clear revenue sharing path (protocol revenue will be used for buybacks and burning of LIT); however, its high allocation—up to half—to "insiders" with a clear value orientation has also led many community members to question whether this deviates from the spirit of a "fair launch" in DeFi. The background of this debate is that the on-chain derivatives market's monthly trading volume has exceeded 1 trillion USD, and Lighter itself has firmly ranked second in trading volume. The economics of the LIT token reflect far more than just a project's governance choices; it is a critical reflection on power, value, and fairness in the entire DeFi world amid the "super cycle" of large-scale institutional capital inflows.

Decentralized perpetual exchange Lighter's mainnet launch simultaneously announced the LIT token economic model, sparking debate within the DeFi community. The total supply is split evenly: 50% for the ecosystem and 50% for the team and investors. Despite a one-year lock-up and three-year vesting, it still faces criticism for being too aggressive. Blockchain analysis shows that after the announcement, major whales opened leveraged short positions worth millions of dollars, but dormant addresses also increased holdings, revealing serious market disagreement over Lighter's prospects.

$LIT has attracted huge interest as per on-chain data, following the addition of multiple high-value traders, also known as whales, to open large short positions on the asset using the Hyperliquid derivatives platform. As the data provided by Onchain Lens show, these roles presuppose several

Decentralized perpetual contract exchange Lighter will conduct a large-scale airdrop in 2025, distributing a total of $LIT platform tokens worth $675 million, attracting many early users to profit. One Taiwanese high school student, through personal effort, mined six-figure points and earned millions of dollars in profit, sparking heated discussion.

Introduction Lighter, a prominent player among perpetual decentralized exchanges, has recently revealed its tokenomics for the new Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT), generating varied reactions within the DeFi community. The structure of the token distribution, alongside its recent launch, has

Lighter, a prominent decentralized perpetual exchange platform, has announced its flagship $LIT token. The launch of the Lighter Infrastructure Token ($LIT) denotes a key milestone in Lighter’s mission to develop a cutting-edge financial infrastructure. As per Lighter’s official X announcement, the

Lighter, a decentralized perpetuals exchange (Perp DEX) on Ethereum Layer 2, has officially launched its native token LIT.

Today's News Highlights: Media: Tony Leung's son, Tony Tam, serves as a senior software engineer at a Web3 company and was previously responsible for NFT game CryptoKitties. Dragonfly Partner: BTC will break through $150,000 by the end of 2026, but market share may decline. Manus founder Xiao Hong's social media profile includes the tag “btc holder.” Lighter announces the launch of the infrastructure token LIT, with 50% ecosystem allocation. The total market cap of tokenized stocks has risen to $1.2 billion, reaching a new all-time high. Billionaire Grant Cardone announces the launch of the world's largest real estate Bitcoin company in 2026. Macro Cicely LaMothe, Deputy Director of the SEC's Corporate Finance Division, is about to retire after formulating crypto guidelines. According to The

Lighter has launched its long-anticipated token launch after releasing initial details around LIT and its role in the protocol. Summary Lighter revealed LIT tokenomics with 50% allocated to the ecosystem and 25% immediately airdropped. Protocol revenues will fund growth or buybacks, fully

The highly anticipated decentralized perpetual contract trading platform Lighter is about to reach a key milestone—Token Generation Event (TGE) and a large-scale airdrop. According to core information disclosed by the project team in the market Q&A, its native token LIT has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, of which up to 25%, or 250 million tokens, will be used for the initial airdrop, with no lock-up restrictions. This airdrop will be directly distributed based on the completed points system, and community speculation suggests that the timing window is very likely to be in the coming days. Against the backdrop of a generally sluggish market, Lighter’s TGE performance is regarded by the industry as a key indicator of current market risk appetite, supported by its ZK Rollup-based technical architecture, a total locked value of $1.392 billion, and a recent massive financing round of $68 million.

Techub News Announcement, Lighter team marketing lead Pilla.eth shared some details about TGE during an AMA event: TGE and airdrops will occur in 2025, with 25% of the total supply allocated for airdrops, which will have no lock-up restrictions. Airdrops do not require claiming and will be directly deposited into the Lighter wallets of token holders. 50% of the token supply will be allocated to the community, with more details on the tokenomics to be gradually announced. There will be token buybacks, but the specific amount is not yet determined. The LIT token was initially only tradable on the Lighter platform. Coinbase and Bybit have added LIT to their roadmaps; the team will not pay for listings. There will be no official Lighter NFT, but some community...

Author: Zhou, ChainCatcher Recently, the name Lighter has been trending nonstop in the community. Whether it's valuation discussions, points farm yield calculations, TGE timing guesses, or pre-market price fluctuations, the sentiment is exceptionally intense. Binance, OKX, and other exchanges have announced the launch of pre-market trading for the LIT token. Polymarket's prediction market shows a greater than 50% chance that its valuation will exceed $3 billion after TGE. On-chain transfer signals of 250 million LIT tokens have further ignited FOMO sentiment, making everything seem logical. Lighter is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated projects in the crypto market at the end of the year. However, while everyone is calculating how many LIT they can exchange points for or how much it will rise after TGE, the more fundamental question is being overlooked: this airdrop frenzy

BitMart has launched Pre-Market Minting for LIT/USDT, allowing users to stake USDT and mint PreToken $LIT before trading starts. Lighter Protocol, a perpetual futures trading app on Ethereum, is generating excitement ahead of its full launch on December 26, 2025.

Lit Protocol introduces a decentralized key management system that empowers users with full control over their assets. Key innovations in 2025 include the launch of the $LITKEY token, v1 Naga for improved performance, and Vincent for non-custodial automation, enhancing privacy and automation in decentralized systems.

Lighter, a perpetual decentralized exchange (perp DEX) and a major rival to Hyperliquid, is fueling airdrop speculation as Polymarket traders bet on a token launch before year’s end. Sebas, also known as Babastianj, a core contributor to the Lighter DEX, announced on the project’s Discord channel

Lighter.xyz, an Ethereum zk-rollup DEX, is filtering out exploitative trading practices from its points program before the $LIT token launch, opting to redistribute slashed points to genuine users. This aims to enhance community integrity and support long-term protocol health.

Insider betting signals a likely token generation event (TGE) for Lighter, with a $LIT airdrop of 250M tokens raising speculation. Aster DEX gains traction in the DeFi market, promoting increased trading volume and competition.

Taiwan time on the 20th near noon, the Lighter token contract transferred 250 million LIT, suspected to be preparing for listing. But is this move too late to catch up with the Perp DEX competition? This article is from CoinW Research Institute. (Previous background: Aster, Lighter… fierce enemies encircle, Hyperliquid's siege war) (Additional background: Market share dropped from 80% to 20%, what exactly happened to Hyperliquid?) Table of Contents 1. Where does the controversy over Lighter originate: the mismatch between expected pre-commitment and information lag 2. Pre-pricing under high exposure: why is Lighter considered a "quasi-asset" 3. Ignoring TGE, has Lighter truly demonstrated product value?

South Korea's stablecoin draft deadline missed, the central bank and Financial Services Commission's power struggle intensifies, and the parliament plans to take over legislation in January 2026, with markets betting on regulatory directions (Background briefing: Is the Korean Won stablecoin coming? Korea will submit the "Stablecoin Regulation Bill" in October, and the four major banks plan to meet with Circle's CEO next week) (Additional background: The Governor of the Bank of Korea warned: If the Korean Won introduces a stablecoin, it could lead to a currency crash and capital outflow) Table of Contents Missed deadline, cracks appear 51% control: Banks fortress vs. tech channels Political ultimatums, market seeks arbitrage 2026 showdown and possible paths The office building in Yeouido, Seoul, is brightly lit, but behind the glass curtain walls, the Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) are battling over the blueprint for Korean Won stablecoin regulation. The original deadline was December 10.

Yesterday the Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 bps for the third meeting in a row, and for a moment it felt like crypto was ready to run. The Bitcoin price shot toward $94,044, Ethereum climbed near $3,433, and the timeline lit up like it always does when the market finally shows some life. But

Key Insights Litecoin jumps over 10% following renewed buying near the $77.51 level, positioning the asset near a breakout formation. Vanguard&39;s LTCC ETF opens new institutional exposure for Litecoin, increasing accessibility across the traditional investment sector. Technical signals show Lit

The SEC just lit the fuse on a bomb nobody saw coming, and it’s about to blow up every safe Dogecoin price prediction you’ve been clinging to. On December 5, SEC regulators approved the first-ever 2x leveraged altcoin ETF for SUI. If the SEC is approving leveraged ETFs for smaller ecosystems like S

The Zhao Changpeng family office YZi Labs launched a board takeover of CEA Industries, highlighting the conflict between encryption capital and traditional shell company governance (Background: CZ: The fall is not the end of the world! Time will go on! The community praises BNB and ASTAR for their resilience) (Additional background: Analyzing the four major impacts of "CZ being pardoned by Trump" on the market: BNB system迎來大浪潮) The festive lights on Wall Street have just been lit, but Nasdaq has already staged a power struggle. Binance founder Zhao Changpeng's family office YZi Labs submitted a proposal to the SEC on the 2nd, requesting the removal of CEA Industries (ticker

Crypto feels quiet again. Bitcoin drifts under $86,000, XRP can’t break its ceiling, and traders are tired of red charts and stale headlines. But while even the top altcoins to buy snooze through another bearish week, something rare is happening. Digitap ($TAP) has just lit up the scene with its “9

[LIT](https://www.gate.com/post/topic/LIT) [Web3](https://www.gate.com/post/topic/Web3) In today's rapid evolution, decentralized identification has become a core issue of blockchain technology. Litentry's identity management provides a perfect solution for Web3 privacy protection through revolutionary innovation, allowing users to securely manage their digital footprints. Cross-chain identity aggregation not only breaks down data silos but also achieves seamless management of identification. This article will delve into how Litentry is changing the future through blockchain identity solutions and Crypto Assets identification. In the current Web3 ecosystem, Litentry has become a key innovator in the field of decentralized identification. This focuses on blockchain identification

After Trump's loss in three major local elections for the Republican Party, he invited Wall Street executives to a dinner at the White House, seeking to use financial power to drop inflation and focus the public on mortgage and living costs. (Background: Trump strikes back at public opinion: paying a 50-year mortgage is a trivial matter, what's wrong with lower monthly payments?) (Additional background: After the U.S. government reopened after 43 days, Trump signed a bill late at night: Democrats and Biden caused a loss of $1.5 trillion to the U.S.) Last night (12) Eastern Time, the White House state dining room was brightly lit. President Donald Trump, after facing setbacks in the midterm elections, rarely held a small closed-door dinner, inviting heavyweight figures from Wall Street such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman. The focus of the discussion was not on stock price fluctuations but on whether American families can continue to afford mortgages and living expenses. With Wall Street gathering at the White House, the pain points of mortgages became the focus. Also accompanying the dinner was Treasury Secretary Scott Pelley, who comes from a hedge fund background, and someone who once worked on Wall Street.

In brief The McRib is returning to McDonald's stores in the U.S on Tuesday. Last year, that coincided with an upswing in Bitcoin's price. Social media lit up Monday after a McDonald's exec noted the historic correlation. Decrypt's Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub. Discover

Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority (HKMA) has released the "Fintech 2030" blueprint, and Franklin Templeton simultaneously announced the launch of Hong Kong’s first tokenized money market fund, signaling Hong Kong’s acceleration into the blockchain asset era. (Background context: Standard Chartered predicts the RWA market will reach $2 trillion by 2028, with most value concentrated on Ethereum. Over three years, the market has surged 57 times. Standard Chartered also states that DeFi is already disrupting traditional finance.) Inside the brightly lit HKMA building across Victoria Harbour, HKMA Chief Executive Eddie Yue revealed the "Fintech 2030" plan during a press conference yesterday (the 5th). On the same day, Franklin Templeton announced the issuance of Hong Kong’s first tokenized money market fund, marking a significant step forward in Hong Kong’s blockchain asset journey.

As a leader in decentralized key management networks, Lit Protocol redefines the boundaries of digital asset security and intelligent automation through the integration of multi-party computation (MPC) and trusted execution environments (TEE). Its highlight lies in achieving a perfect balance between "security" and "efficiency"—users can enjoy AI-driven full-chain automated operations without sacrificing control of their Private Key. As of September 2025, the network has hosted over $340 million in assets, covering 1.66 million Wallet addresses, becoming an essential infrastructure in the Web3 world.

Lit Protocol (LITKEY) is a decentralized automation layer that achieves secure, programmable control over digital assets and AI agents through threshold encryption and multi-chain infrastructure. The protocol operates on platforms such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, securing over $420 million in assets and processing over 34 million transactions, supporting 10,000 daily users across 160,000 wallets.

Lit Protocol is a decentralized infrastructure for secure, programmable data access control, enabling developers to build privacy-preserving applications across Web3 ecosystems.

New figures reveal that mining the privacy coin zcash (ZEC) has become a serious money-maker after the digital asset’s price rocketed more than 200% this month. The rally lit a fire under miners, blasting the network’s hashrate straight into uncharted territory. ZEC Miners Reap Big Rewards as

On Sunday, X lit up with chatter about a mystery bitcoin whale quietly scooping up thousands of BTC from Kraken’s hot wallet. Crypto sleuths and influencers couldn’t help but speculate that someone with deep pockets was “buying the dip”—dropping more than $300 million on the world’s top digital

On Thursday, an X post from Whale Alert lit up the feeds after revealing that 4,000 BTC—worth a cool $442 million—just woke up from a 14-year nap. Blockchain data shows that out of the long-slumbering stash, 150 BTC quietly tiptoed into a new wallet, leaving the crypto crowd buzzing.

According to Mars Finance, on October 23, the decentralized trading protocol Bunni reported that it recently encountered a vulnerability that caused a stagnation in growth. Restarting requires paying approximately six to seven figures for auditing and monitoring costs, and the development and business cycle is too long, leading the team to decide to shut down. Users can still withdraw assets through the official website; in the future, it is planned to allocate the remaining treasury assets to holders (BUNNI, LIT, veBUNNI) based on a snapshot, with team members not participating, and specific details will be announced after the legal process is completed. The Bunni v2 contract has changed from BUSL to MIT Open Source license, continuing to assist law enforcement in recovering stolen funds.

Trump and Albanese signed a rare earth supply agreement at the White House, investing up to $3 billion to cut dependence on China, reshuffling the global supply chain. (Background: The Wall Street Journal warns: America’s addiction to sports and AI is becoming a bubble, and Trump is the culprit.) (Additional context: The New York Times: The Trump family’s ‘dirtiest’ crypto world money-making scheme is worse than Watergate.) The White House balcony in Washington was brightly lit last night (20), U.S. time, as President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Albanese shook hands and signed a long-term framework agreement on rare earths and critical minerals, declaring that the two countries aim to reduce their reliance on China's supply in high-tech and defense industries. This agreement not only reshapes U.S.-Australia bilateral relations but also leaves a clear mark on global geopolitics and technology supply chains. U.S. and Australia join hands to create a milestone in rare earth cooperation. The full name of the agreement is "U.S.-Australia Critical Minerals and Rare Earths Mining and Processing Supply Security Framework."

Arthur Hayes has once again lit the fuse of controversy, this time aiming straight at the heart of the European Central Bank (ECB). In his fiery “Bastille Day” essay, the BitMEX co-founder labeled ECB President Christine Lagarde a “criminal” and urged Europeans to move all their savings out of the e

Celestia price just lit up the charts with a technical signal that has traders paying close attention. According to analyst Ali, the TD Sequential indicator has printed a buy signal on the weekly chart, hinting that the token could be gearing up for a rebound after weeks of heavy selling

"This is just the beginning, we want to make Plasma the perfect home for Money 2.0." This vision of Plasma founder Paul Faecks has taken a key step forward with the launch of the mainnet test version yesterday. On September 25, the Layer-1 blockchain Plasma, designed specifically for stablecoins, officially lit up its first block and issued its native token XPL. The market reacted quickly and enthusiastically, with the price of XPL surging to $1.54 on the morning of the 26th, 30 times higher than the ICO price of $0.05, and a circulating market capitalization reaching $1.59 billion, directly entering the cryptocurrency ranking at 89th place.