The brief

Analyst view

• Lighter's zero-knowledge rollup eliminates trading fees by verifying order matching and liquidations with ZK proofs on Ethereum.
• In November 2025, Lighter raised $68M led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, valuing the company at $1.5B.
• The platform surged from invite-only experiment to market leader among DEX challengers in under two years.

Technical approach

As reported

ZK Rollup

Ethereum-settled L2 with zero-knowledge proofs

Custom zk-rollup settling on Ethereum; cryptographic proofs verify matching and liquidations without storing all data onchain.

Order Book

Native on-chain order book

Order book runs fully onchain with ZK-verified matching, enabling transparent price discovery without off-chain systems.

Fee Model

Zero trading fees

Standard accounts pay no trading fees. Revenue comes from premium features and future products built on the infrastructure.