Traders are flocking to the ZK-powered perpetuals trading platform amid the ongoing airdrop craze, and its OTC points market is going parabolic.
As traders flock to tokenless perpetuals exchanges in pursuit of “the next Hyperliquid airdrop,” trading volumes hit a record $1 trillion in September, and as the sector heats up, the Lighter exchange’s activity-based points have hit an all-time high on over-the-counter (OTC) markets.
The Lighter points system has been live since its closed beta launched in February, but valuations have skyrocketed over the last month.
The leading Lighter OTC market, SOTC, cleared its first seven-figure transaction on Oct. 7, which also marked the first sale at $100 per point. Lighter points were trading for as little as $30 just weeks ago.
Points are down slightly as of today, with the top bid at $90. Current prices imply a valuation of around $5 billion for the future LIGHT token, according to Delpi Digital’s estimates.
Lighter’s growth has been catalyzed by the recent shift in attention towards alternative perpetual derivative exchanges, as the space has been dominated by Hyperliquid since the HYPE token launched in November 2024.
The rise of Aster has sparked a mania in the sector, and now Lighter and Hyperliquid are neck and neck in terms of total volume. Over the last week, Hyperliquid has processed $65 billion in perpetuals volume, while Lighter did $60 billion. It is worth noting that Hyperliquid still commands the majority of open interest, with $15 billion compared to Lighter’s $2.5 billion.
Lighter’s total value locked (TVL) has surged alongside its points to $1.18 billion today from $340 million at the beginning of September.
The valuation of the points remains speculative, as the LIGHT tokenomics have not been publicly disclosed. Users are speculating on a large distribution, however, ranging from 25% to 50% of the token supply, based on official team communications in an X space held over the summer.
The debate over the value of the points is heating up, with Lighter bulls touting features Hyperliquid lacks, such as position privacy and zero fees. Meanwhile, skeptics claim that Hyperliquid, which currently commands a $43 billion valuation, derives a majority of that valuation from the fact that it’s a Layer 1 blockchain, while Lighter does not operate its own blockchain, at least for now.
