Lighter's first-quarter airdrop totaled $675 million, with a net outflow of $30 million on the first day.

In late 2025, the decentralized derivatives protocol Lighter ($LIT) officially launched its TGE (Token Generation Event) on December 30th, with an initial airdrop of $675 million. Reminiscent of Hyperliquid's $1.8 billion airdrop last year, this airdrop was not only a demonstration of technological prowess but also a final showdown between top-tier capital players and grassroots communities.

( Reviewing this year's most successful airdrop: Why did Hyperliquid become a textbook example of narrative and token economics? )

Lighter's investors include Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

Compared to Hyperliquid, which touts its lack of funding, Lighter makes no secret of its strong capital backing. Its investor list spans Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms:

• Lead investors: Haun Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Founders Fund (founded by Peter Thiel), and Craft Ventures.
• Strategic giants: a16z, Dragonfly, Lightspeed, Coatue, SV Angel.
• Brokerage firm: Robinhood.

Anchorage Digital even offered hosting services on day one, indicating its clear target market is the institutional market.

Lighter airdropped $675 million, but recorded a net outflow of $30 million on the first day.

The launch of Lighter inevitably draws comparisons to Hyperliquid ($HYPE), which became a sensation in late November 2024. While both pursue ultimate trading performance, their core philosophies are quite different.

Late last year, Hyperliquid shocked the market with its "absolutely anti-VC" stance. Its founder, Jeff Yan, leveraging his background in high-frequency trading, generously airdropped 31% of its tokens to the community as a genesis airdrop, creating a $1.8 billion airdrop phenomenon without any private placement or market maker allocation. At the time, Hyperliquid, with its "retail-first" consensus, quickly climbed into the top ten of global public blockchain TVL rankings.

According to BubbleMap data , Lighter airdropped $675 million worth of tokens to early participants, and recorded a net outflow of $30 million on the first day.

This article, "Lighter's Q1 airdrop totaled $675 million, with a net outflow of $30 million on the first day," first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .