Lighter Raises $68 Million to Rebuild Trust in Decentralized Finance After Its Return from AI

Lighter’s Countertrend Entrepreneurship and Trust Rebuilding Journey

As Silicon Valley founders rush toward AI, Vladimir Novakovski has taken the contrarian route. With deep experience at Citadel, Lunchclub, and in AI, Novakovski has returned to crypto, transforming his startup Lighter into one of the most high-profile foundational platforms in the Web3 ecosystem in just two years.

Lighter’s latest funding round—led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Robinhood and Haun Ventures—raised $68 million, pushing its valuation past $1.5 billion. In today’s capital markets, this is nothing short of a remarkable achievement.

What Is Lighter?

Lighter isn’t just another decentralized exchange (DEX); it’s built on a dual-core framework, combining its own blockchain infrastructure with a trading application layer. The platform currently offers perpetual crypto contract trading and plans to add spot trading for major assets like Bitcoin.

Unlike most DeFi protocols that compete on high leverage or low fees, Lighter’s core philosophy is to create a financial foundation that’s verifiable, trackable, and fair. As Novakovski puts it: “Our goal is to make every transaction in the world publicly verifiable and always accurately recorded.”

Silicon Valley and Crypto Giants Back Lighter

Lighter’s ascent isn’t by chance—it’s the result of top-tier capital and industry trust. This round was led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, with major investors like Haun Ventures and Robinhood joining in. Notably, Robinhood rarely invests at such an early stage, making its participation a clear bet on the future of decentralized finance.

(Source: Lighter_xyz)

Back in 2024, Lighter closed a $21 million round led by Haun Ventures and Craft Ventures, with Dragonfly and Robot Ventures also joining. To date, Lighter’s total funding is nearing $90 million.

Lighter’s Technical Strategy

While competitors like Hyperliquid opted for custom Layer 1 chains, Lighter chose to build on Ethereum Layer 2, balancing speed and security. L2BEAT data shows Lighter’s total value locked (TVL) ranks among the top in the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem, demonstrating high activity and capital capacity. This approach gives Lighter Ethereum’s security with its own efficient trading experience and offers developers greater flexibility for expanding applications.

Lighter’s Market Positioning

The perpetual contracts market has always been the core liquidity arena in crypto. As Hyperliquid’s rise intensifies DEX competition, Lighter leverages its Ethereum Layer 2 framework, transparent governance, and low-latency trading to open a new front among giants like Binance and Aster.

Redefining DeFi’s Trust Layer

Lighter is more than another DEX—it aims to reinvent the trust foundation of crypto finance. Novakovski stresses that Lighter’s ultimate goal is to build a next-generation Trust Layer for financial markets, where decentralized markets rely not on single institutional endorsements, but on transparent rules and verifiable data. As perpetual trading grows and DeFi infrastructure matures, Lighter’s approach could become a key pillar, bringing true openness and auditability to financial markets.

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Summary

As entrepreneurs worldwide chase AI opportunities, Lighter has pursued a more challenging and forward-thinking path—returning to crypto and the core of trust. This $68 million round is more than a market endorsement; it signals a renewed consensus in Web3 around transparent financial infrastructure. Lighter’s journey may point to the next industry cycle: AI and crypto converging as dual engines powering the future of financial trust.