Apeplanet

Algorithmic services on Earth. 🧩 $TIG 🕯️🔥

[Lighter @Lighter_xyz]

Partner Attribution is now live! Integrators that build on Lighter can monetize via configurable fees of up to 10 bps.

We're already working with external teams leveraging this infra, with several partnerships to be announced soon.

More details:
https://t.co/hsqQbOYL6T

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

@ApoStructura @7bigjohn Oye, beltalowda! Eyes and ears, sasa ke? 😎

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

Lighter EVM = verifiable, high-perf trading meets full EVM composability. Big step for onchain finance! 📈 #Lighter #ZK #DeFi

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

Architecture highlights:
• Joint settlement on Ethereum mainnet
• Fast interop: transfer assets, place orders, manage positions in seconds (no L1 finality waits)
• Sync reads of Lighter state + fast async writes (staking, orders, transfers) at launch

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🚀 Announcing Lighter EVM — an EVM-equivalent rollup natively interoperating with Lighter!
Bringing general-purpose apps to compose directly with Lighter's high-performance markets & liquidity at low latency.

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

Built in deep collab with @axiom_xyz using OpenVM (extensible zkVM) to verify execution alongside existing Lighter circuits — no compromises on performance or security.

[Eugene Bulltime🕯️| PerpDEXWars.com @Eugene_Bulltime]

Lighter's journey hasn't been easy.

- The company initially launched in 2017 as a social network called Lunchclub. Even then, they attracted a16z as an investor.

- During Covid in 2020, the project experienced exponential growth, reaching 100 million users. Afterward, Coatue and Lightspeed led a new $24M round of investment.

- And the hardest part came afterward – the company stopped growing in 2021-2022.

They literally hit a ceiling on all metrics.
Change was imminent.

------------

@vnovakovski made a difficult choice - a complete pivot toward decentralized trading. It takes a very strong will to make such a decision.

At that moment, another challenge arose – co-founder Scott Wu decided to leave the project and created Cognition, an AI project currently valued at $10.5B.

From the outside, it might have seemed like this startup was dying, following the classic startup path: rapid rise - stagnation - team's disintegration.

But Lighter avoided this fate, growing stronger. And all thanks to the TEAM.

-----------

Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Dragonfly, and Haun Ventures invested almost $100M in the TEAM in 2024-2025. In Lighter's case, having VCs is a huge positive.

Because VCs backed a stellar team and founder, who have won major global competitions in programming and are practically elite in the programming field.

--When capital supports a strong team, it produces breakthrough results--

The fact that some community members hate Lighter for raising VCs is bad, because they think Lighter is just ANOTHER project.
Although, over the course of their existence, they have proven all to be EXCEPTIONAL.

Congratulations to the whole team on this great event!

[Eugene Bulltime🕯️| PerpDEXWars.com @Eugene_Bulltime]

Lighter isn't Hyperliquid or L2. It's dozens X larger due of Ethereum Alignment.

While each L2 is creating its own ecosystem, Lighter is natively integrated into Ethereum DeFi.

Each L2 claims to be Ethereum-based and protected by its security. But in reality, each is creating its own ecosystem that parasitizes Ethereum.

This has gotten to the point where Vitalik is already considering adding additional fees for L2, which would take away Ethereum's value.

The problem lies in the technical part.

1. The native bridge between Ethereum and its L2 is, first and foremost, a bridge - assets on L2 are wrapped assets derived from the Ethereum network.
2. The other portion of assets are assets deployed exclusively on L2, but are not represented on the Ethereum network.
3. Although many of them are presented on various networks via LayerZero's OFT, in reality, these are all wrapper solutions that the community has come to terms with.

And this is all exacerbated by the fact that many L2s don't use Ethereum's blobs as a data availability layer, or do so inconsistently (thanks @0xBreadguy ).

As a result, L2s are creating their own ecosystem, isolated from Ethereum. Thus, they are no longer aligned with Ethereum. The only thing that connects them is offchain xts batches broadcast to Ethereum.

As a result, the problem of DeFi fragmentation arises, as each system tries to build DeFi on its own and engages in vampire attacks on existing solutions.

Polygon is taking a slightly different approach, creating Katana L2 as a DeFi layer, and this makes sense. But the problem is that they are creating a DeFi layer for their own Agglayer ecosystem.

This means that the connection with Ethereum also appears to be broken.

That's where Lighter Comes In.

The team initially talked about wanting to be fully aligned with the existing Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. But how can they do that if Ethereum simply isn't suitable for high-speed PerpDEX?

The logical answer is to build L2. But in this case, the question arises:
- how to build an L2 that is fully aligned with Ethereum?
They answered: through zk-tech.

However, a bunch of zk rollups already exist - zkSync, Starknet, Scroll, Linea. And they all suffer from the same problems alignment to Ethereum.

@vnovakovski decided to create a new type of zk-specific rollup: instead of issuing new assets on L2, Lighter issues zk proofs that confirm the existence of these assets on Ethereum.

Every action with this asset creates new zk proofs, reflecting the state change. And these proofs are permanently stored on Ethereum.

In summary: txs minting and execution occurs between proofs on L2 while the assets themselves remain on Ethereum.

Why does it Matter?

This means these assets can be used throughout the entire Ethereum DeFi ecosystem while their state changes on Lighter L2. Moreover, the state change is matched with Ethereum, updating the asset's parameters.

This opens up vast new opportunities and horizons:

- LLP can be listed on Aave and generate high yield for depositors
- RWA tokens (Tesla, Apple, Gold) can be traded on Lighter but not leave the Ethereum network
- ETH can be deposited in Ethereum DeFi and used as collateral on Lighter, etc.

Imagine your liquidity not being spread across multiple networks, but solely on Ethereum, while gaining the ability to leverage it across multiple protocols and DeFi strategies.

This is a "blue ocean" and Lighter is becoming a pioneer in it, with the potential to occupy the largest PerpDEX niche on Ethereum, which still appears vacant.

RWA asset issuers won't want to mint assets on L2 due to security concerns, but they want to mint them on Ethereum, as it's the largest and most secure network.

What might happen if you give them the ability to trade on PerpDEX without leaving Ethereum?
- An explosion in usage and accelerated onchain asset migration.

Main beneficiaries:
- Ethereum
- Lighter
- ETH DeFi eco (Aave, Uniswap, Curve, Morpho, Lido, etc.)

Lighter has only just started, and the entire market is already talking about it.
_____________

If you liked the research, plz like/retweet and follow to
@Eugene_Bulltime

And follow on strong visioners and analysts:

@poopmandefi
@DoggfatherCrew
@0xSalazar
@DefiIgnas
@Defi_Warhol
@Route2FI
@Moomsxxx
@Mars_DeFi
@rektdiomedes
@eli5defi
@JayLovesPotato
@Steve_4P
@TheDeFinvestor
@0xCheeezzyyyy
@arndxt_xo
@alpha_pls
@satoshiheist
@ruslan55x
@babastianj

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

@SBF_FTX Damn!

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🎯 Why BARD flips the BTC DeFi script? It democratizes Bitcoin's $1T+ liquidity for yield farming, perps, and beyond – all while inheriting Symbiotic's shared security model. No more "BTC sleeps" era. Lombard + BARD = the yield-bearing BTC revo, Stake now, thrive forever. #BARD

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🚀 Exciting news! Lombard, Chainlink, and Symbiotic just launched the first-ever crypto-economic guarantee layer for cross-chain LBTC transfers with BARD. Secure, seamless BTC liquidity is here! Dive into the future of DeFi. #BARD #BTCDeFi #CrossChainInnovation

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🔒 BARD revolutionizes BTC DeFi with a groundbreaking guarantee layer, powered by Lombard, Chainlink, and Symbiotic. Unlock new possibilities for LBTC transfers across chains. Join the movement! #BARD #DeFiRevolution #CryptoSecurity

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

💧 LBTC isn't just a wrapper – it's programmable BTC fuel. Send it to DeFi hubs like Base for lending/borrowing, or BNB for DEX action, without ever leaving BTC's PoW fortress. Yields compound across ecosystems, slashing fragmentation.

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🌉 Cross-chain magic? BARD leverages Chainlink CCIP for seamless tx execution. Mint LBTC (Lombard's liquid BTC) and zap it to Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, or even Katana – all with oracle-grade verifiability. No wrapped token roulette; just verifiable, low-latency interoperability.

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

$BARD’s success signals a shift—Bitcoin isn’t just a store of value anymore. Lombard’s integration into DeFi could unlock billions, boosting BTC’s dominance. Expect cross-chain innovations & explosive ROI potential in the next 18 months! #Bard #Lombard #Bitcoin

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

Lombard's $BARD token sale is a DeFi beast—14x oversubscribed, $95M committed vs. $6.75M hardcap! This Bitcoin-integrated protocol is poised to redefine utility, driving insane liquidity & adoption. Buckle up for a wild ride! #Bard #Lombard #DeFi #Bitcoin

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

I’m eyeing BTC DeFi’s future post-$BARD launch. With dormant BTC entering yield farming & lending, we could see a 10x ecosystem boom by 2026. Institutional FOMO incoming—get ready for a tidal wave of capital! #Bard #Bitcoin #Crypto #DeFi

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

🚀 The Lombard #BARD sale is exploding! Currently at 630.98% oversubscription with few hours left – on track for 500-1000% like Solayer (545%) & Sahara AI (874%). This is HUGE demand in the BTC ecosystem!

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

Bard a game changer in BTC. By introducing LBTC, a yield-bearing liquid staked Bitcoin token, it's unlocking BTC's potential beyond just HODLing. Earn yields, participate in cross-chain DeFi, all while keeping your BTC secure. The future of Bitcoin is productive! #BARD #BUIDL

[Apeplanet @Apezpanet]

With only hours remaining, don't miss out on the #BARD sale – it's set to redefine Bitcoin as a dynamic financial tool. Massive oversubscription shows the insane appetite for BTC-native liquidity and restaking. Join the revolution! 📈 #Bitcoin #DeFi #BUIDL