Lighter is an onchain order book DEX for perpetual futures and spot trading across crypto and RWA markets. Markets include crypto such as $BTC, $ETH, $SOL and $LIT, alongside RWAs covering equities, ETFs and indices, FX, commodities and bonds, with examples such as SPY, QQQ, NVDA, AAPL, SLV and more.

Lighter operates two separate trading deployments. Its main DEX runs on Lighter’s own Ethereum Layer 2, while a separate deployment is live on Robinhood Chain.

The main DEX uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify key operations such as order matching and liquidations, while the wider ecosystem includes $LIT staking, and public liquidity pools.

Both Lighter deployments charge 0% maker and taker fees for retail traders. On Robinhood Chain, Premium Accounts get lower-latency execution, with fees starting at 0.0120% maker and 0.0350% taker, with rates falling at higher volumes.

The company is based in Miami, Florida and led by founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski. Lighter has raised close to $90 million from investors including Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures and Robinhood, and has undergone several security audits.